Well of Souls
by BOC42
Summary: A rewrite of the episode Gravity with the Doctor, Janeway, and Chakotay stranded inside the gravity well. Because who doesn't want to give Janeway and Chakotay another chance at being stranded on a planet together?
1. Day 4

This is a rewrite of Gravity, exploring the possibilities of Janeway, Chakotay, and the Doctor being trapped on the planet with Noss. It is written from the Doc's POV, and is therefore also an experiment in how the crew see their command team. It takes place about a week after the events of _Bride of Chaotica._ All rights to Paramount.

=/\=

DAY 4

A Visit From the Queen

=/\=

The Doctor was very glad that as a hologram, he didn't need to eat. Neelix's most imaginative dishes looked like earth French delicacies compared to the enormous brown spiders that Noss was demonstrating how to dismember and cook.

The captain's face registered something between surprise and disgust. Commander Chakotay looked resigned. Noss, clearly delighted that she had something to share with these strangers who had appeared from the sky and rescued her from some hostile aliens, plucked the last leg off the spider and held it up to show Janeway.

Janeway nodded, and then exchanged a look of desperation with Chakotay, who was silently thumbing the spoon that Noss had handed him.

Noss tossed the legs into a frying pan – apparently there was enough meat on them to eat them too – and she said the grease helped take the edge off the taste. She then pointed commandingly at the bubbling pot that contained the bodies of the spiders and looked at Chakotay. "_Tavek_," she said enthusiastically.

Chakotay looked lost for a moment. The Doctor took pity on him. "She said 'stir,'" he offered blandly, blessing his programmer for not including taste buds in his matrix. He did not want to taste this creation – it was bad enough being able to smell it.

Chakotay gingerly dipped the spoon into the boiling mixture and began stirring. Noss nodded eagerly. "_Da yet._" She moved away and down the galley, disappearing into the hallway where her room was.

The Doctor sighed and sat down at the table, analyzing anew the small mess hall on Noss's downed ship. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Janeway move closer to Chakotay.

"_Spiders?"_ she asked incredulously. "It couldn't be chickens or rabbits or cabbage but _spiders_?" There was a note of pleading in her voice.

Chakotay gave her a friendly nudge. "Well, when Queen Arachnia lands on a desert planet, what else would you expect?"

Janeway laughed out loud and nudged him back. "At least I don't have to wear that ridiculous costume," she said, standing on tiptoe to look into the pot Chakotay was stirring. "I don't think I would have lasted one hour in a dress and those heels."

"It _was _quite the outfit," Chakotay said with a hint of mirth, then laughed and experimentally lifted the round body of a spider up on his spoon. "Then again, if the spiders had recognized Arachnia maybe they would have caught us something tastier for dinner," he said.

"Maybe." Janeway threw him a scathing glance, and then looked into the pot again. "Damn, if there's something bigger than these on this planet, I'm going to catch it even if I have to make a bow and arrow."

"First thing tomorrow we find some rock we can flint knap," Chakotay agreed. "I made a few lousy spearheads when I was younger, maybe I can remember how."

"I don't care how lousy they are Chakotay, we're going to find something more appetizing than spiders to hunt. You're in charge of the arsenal." She brushed her hand across his shoulders and turned to follow Noss.

"Aye, Captain," he replied, and the Doctor saw his gaze linger on the captain as she moved away.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he followed Chakotay's gaze down the galley. Then he caught a whiff of the spider legs as they began to sizzle and forgot about it.

Given the climate of the planet, he was surprised anything as complex as spiders had evolved. Clearly, the Captain and Commander wanted a miracle. Given the smell issuing from the pot, he couldn't say he blamed them.

=/\=

A/N: I have a sneaking suspicion that Voyager's writers liked arachnids. Queen Arachnia, Scorpion, living off of spiders…something is fundamentally wrong with this picture.


	2. Day 7

Thanks for the positive response, everyone. I'm hoping this will be a fun ride. As always, rights belong to Paramount.

DAY 7

Let Her Fuss

=/\=

Noss was standing about thirty meters away, scanning the north cliff face with her binoculars. Commander Chakotay was only a dozen meters away from the Doctor, eyes moving from his tricorder to the plains south of the shuttle crash, then back again. The Doctor had been moving between the two of them, looking east and west and he did so. In this way they guarded the prone shuttle while Captain Janeway, for the fifth day in a row, tried to repair it and understand what had landed them on this forsaken D class planet.

Chakotay stood easily, still as a tree, as the Doctor approached.

"Oh, come _on_!" Janeway's frustrated shout from inside the shuttle, followed by a small crash, made the Doctor turn.

He opened his mouth to call to her and ask if she was all right, when Chakotay's hand pressed against his arm. He looked at the commander.

"Don't," Chakotay said gently. "Let her fuss."

The Doctor took one more good look east and then west, scanning for signs of hostile movement, then stepped up to the taller man. "Commander, she's been far too angry the past several days. She is beginning to display signs of obsessive behavior, irritability, and irrationality," he informed his commanding officer in a clipped tone.

Commander Chakotay just smiled and shook his head. "'Beginning to?'"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Well, you have a point. But she needs to calm down. If we just spoke with her - "

"Doctor," Chakotay said, closing his tricorder, "this is what she does."

The hologram frowned.

Chakotay shifted his weight onto one leg. "You forget I've done this with her before. When you left us on New Earth because you hadn't been able to find a cure for us."

"Yes."

"She has a hard time letting go, Doctor. She's the captain, and she's responsible for the lives of her crew. She doesn't want them to be endangered. She's worried about us and _Voyager."_

The Doctor sighed. "Of course."

Chakotay chuckled and opened his tricorder to continue scanning for hostile aliens. As an afterthought, he tapped the Doctor's arm. "Oh, and the scientist in her can't stand the fact that she doesn't have the proper instruments to study this gravity well and planet." He grinned and turned back to the north. "Let her fuss."

The Doctor felt his frown deepen even as Chakotay continued to grin and scan the terrain. He reached up and touched his holoemitter, something he did when he was vexed, and turned and walked back towards Noss's position. As he passed the shuttle, he heard the captain alternately coaxing and growling at the fused computer systems as she attempted to find them a way to contact _Voyager. _A way out of this hellhole.


	3. Day 13

All right folks, lets get some J/C goodness going. Rights belong to Paramount.

DAY 13

Hell is Cold

=/\=

According to tricorder readings, today was the hottest day yet since their arrival on the planet Chakotay had unceremoniously named Arachnos. Of course, as a hologram, such things did not affect the Doctor, but he could tell that the others were suffering. From what he had gathered, Noss's fourteen seasons here had helped her adapt to the heat. Chakotay, he knew, had grown up in a hot and humid jungle, and although dry heat was hard on him, he was used to temperatures hotter than earth's. Janeway often talked about how hot and muggy summers in Indiana were, but they weren't this hot. She looked awful.

"Captain, you should really move back into the ship," he encouraged her from the distress beacon.

Stubborn and irritable, the captain shook her head and continued fiddling with the pile of rocks she and Chakotay had amassed that morning. The Doctor wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish. Initially, Chakotay had told her to find rocks that looked promising for flint knapping, but for the past twenty minutes she had been reorganizing and readjusting the pile with no apparent reason.

The Doctor sighed and walked over to the small outcropping she was sitting on, sweat glistening all over her bare arms and neck. "Captain, I insist. You will get heat stroke sitting out here."

She glared up at him – that glare that turned Starfleet officers all the way up to the rank of commander into obedient, twittering lemmings. Luckily, this glare had no such affect upon him.

"Captain, it's over 43' out here. You should be sitting inside the ship trying to cool down." He pulled out his medical tricorder and examined her. "Your internal body temperature is rising."

"Doctor, its 43' out here and 48' and stifling inside that ship. I'll be damned if I'm going anywhere near it until the sun is down." Her ashen face seemed set, and then she unexpectedly moaned and leaned forward with her head clasped in her hands.

The Doctor squatted down next to her and put a hand on her back, feeling the heat rise off it. "I know the ship is hot, but why not come sit in the shade, all right? You're of no use to us if you're delirious from heat. How much water have you had?" Luckily, Noss had found a reliable spring twenty meters from her downed craft, and water was something they didn't have to worry about.

"Two liters…" she mumbled from her hands. "…I think. And I'm not delirious, I have a headache."

"You are delirious. You've been rearranging this pile of rocks for nearly half an hour. Now let's get you into the shade and get another liter of water into you. I'll go and get an electrolyte packet from the ship for you."

She didn't move.

"Captain, I will carry you - "

"The hell you will," she growled, lowering herself into fetal position on the ground and covering her eyes from the glaring sun.

He knew he was capable of carrying her, but not if she tried to put up a fight. She could do serious damage to his holoemitter, and then where would they all be? "Fine," the Doctor retorted. "If you won't listen to me…" He tapped his combadge. "Doctor to Chakotay."

"Chakotay here."

"Commander, I require your assistance at the distress beacon. The captain is suffering from heat exhaustion, possibly heat stroke. She is being….less than accommodating towards my efforts to relocate her somewhere cooler."

"I'll be right there, Doctor," the commander's disembodied voice succinctly told him. The Doctor heard notes of concern and irritation in Chakotay's voice. Of course. The commander and the captain were close friends. Nobody else besides possibly Tuvok knew her better, or would be able to convince her to accept medical assistance.

"He's going to be insufferable," Janeway informed him, still curled up her ball. "He always is."

"I believe I have sufficient experience with Commander Chakotay's demeanor when his captain is in danger. Sometimes I feel as if when you're in sickbay, then so is Commander Chakotay."

This was met with a scoffing sound.

"How's the headache?" he tried again, hoping the commander was not far away.

"It hurts," she muttered stiffly.

"How badly?" he demanded dryly.

She scoffed again. "Srivani badly."

"Are you exaggerating?"

"I wish I was."

He sighed and sat down next to her. "Then I'm moving your diagnosis up to heat stroke. I'm going to keep all of you under observation and make sure you drink at least another two liters of water with electrolytes. Once we get you back to the ship I should be able to dull the pain with a medkit."

Janeway shook next to him and removed her hands from her eyes, squinting. She groaned and curled into a tighter ball, her fingers reaching into her scalp. The Doctor noticed that tears were sliding from the corners of her eyes. "Please let me take you to the ship."

"It hurts," was all she whispered.

The sound of rocks sliding below them heralded Chakotay's arrival. The Doctor stood up to meet him. "Heat stroke. Her internal body temperature is dangerously high. We need to get her cooled down immediately."

Chakotay's face was furrowed with apprehension as he stepped around the Doctor and sank to the ground beside his captain. He touched her clammy shoulder and made to try and lift her, but she shuddered and twisted.

"Don't. I'm not going back to that ship, it's hotter than hell in there."

Chakotay ran his fingers lightly from her forehead into her hair, and her tense body relaxed somewhat. "Kathryn, we need to get you out of the sun. I know you hurt, and I know you feel scared because you can't think straight, but we need to get you inside. You can trust me."

For a moment the Doctor was afraid Janeway would fight the commander off. But in the space that should have been taken by her argument, Chakotay went right on talking. "Besides, hell is cold, remember?"

Janeway's body went limp and she rolled onto her back. "Then please kill me now," she managed, looking up at Chakotay's worried face.

"I've got you, Kathryn," he said quietly, and scooped her into his arms and cradled her gently, looking at her intently for a moment. To the Doctor's astonishment, his stubborn captain surrendered and wrapped her arms around Chakotay's neck and rested on his chest, allowing herself to be taken back to the ship.

=/\=

It took three hours, several liters of water and an electrolyte packet, multiple painkillers, and damp blanket, but eventually Janeway's temperature returned to normal, and she seemed to be coherent. The Doctor had made all three of them drink plenty more water and had ordered them to stay in or near the ship and not exert themselves. He then obliged Chakotay by fetching the pile of rocks from that morning up to the ship. Then, having never seen flint knapping before, he sat down on the ground in the lowering sun to watch Chakotay attempt this feat.

Janeway was sitting near Chakotay on the ground, leaned against a storage container and watching closely too. She was pale beneath her sunburn, and her expression was weary. Chakotay explained the basic process to her.

"This is the hammerstone," he said, holding up an oval shaped stone about the size of his palm. "And this is the core, or what the spear will come out of." He grinned at Janeway. "Hopefully."

"I have every confidence in you," Janeway said dryly.

He nodded and began hammering away at the core. Flakes, large and small, broke away from it. A minute or so later, he held the core out for Janeway to see. It was now a rough diamond shape. Chakotay pointed at the flake scars. "This is where my love for archaeology is more useful to me than having done this twenty years ago. This is called the bulb of percussion here," he indicated the rounded concave areas where flakes had cleaved off. "At this stage I'd say I've made a rather nice replica of an Acheulean hand axe from earth's Lower Paleolithic era." He sounded pleased with himself.

Janeway's expression became engaged and she reached out and took the tool from Chakotay's hand. "Amazing. Human ancestors survived with this."

He reclaimed it after she had finished examining it. "Yes. And now…I'm going to essentially make it smaller." He continued hammering at the tool, flakes flying, and then switched to holding the tool very firmly and using direct pressure from a smaller stone to break off progressively finer flakes. "This technique is called pressure flaking. If an archaeologist were to find these smaller flakes, they would call them tertiary flakes because they no longer have any of the rock's original outer cortex."

"Fascinating," Janeway said, and the Doctor felt she meant it. He'd never thought of Janeway as the archaeological type. She was the one who wanted to study spatial anomalies and neutron stars and solve mathematical problems. But there was genuine interest on her face, and Chakotay seemed to hold her complete attention as he continued pressure flaking. Below them, the horizon erupted into one of the most dramatic sunsets any of them had ever seen.

As the three of them stared at the sunset, Chakotay fingering the finished spear tip in his hand, Noss appeared in the doorway of the ship. She had opted for sleeping over the demonstration. "Doctor, _harak neval strepu ek iti._"

"_Da yetsi. _I am coming," he agreed, and followed Noss into the ship. Noss was learning Standard quickly, but she preferred to speak to the Doctor in Rathok. He suspected it was nice for her to have someone to speak with in her native language.

As the two of them continued to prepare dinner, the dusk gathered outside and he occasionally moved to the door to keep an eye on Janeway. And even when he was inside the kitchen, he could still hear most of the conversation, thanks to his optimal auditory capabilities.

"Thank you," he heard Janeway say quietly.

"You gave me a bit of a scare."

"I scared myself," Janeway admitted. "I knew I was losing control…and I couldn't stop it."

There was a long silence in which nothing was said. Then Chakotay spoke.

"The planets have risen."

"It's unusual to see planets so closely from the ground."

"They're enormous."

Another silence.

"We should name them," Janeway said.

"What did you have in mind?" Chakotay asked. The Doctor swore he could hear a chuckle building in the man's throat, though from what, he had no idea.

"Given what you've christened our current location as - "

"It makes sense!"

Janeway laughed. "How about Proton and Kincaid?

The Doctor nearly blew his cover by laughing himself. First Chakotay decides to name the planet after Tom Paris' ridiculous holodeck program, and then the captain decides to go along with it and name the two visible planets after Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid? Perhaps she wasn't feeling so well as he thought.

"You don't want to call one of them Planet X?" Chakotay asked dramatically.

Janeway laughed again. "I'm saving that for a special occasion."

"Which is?"

"I don't know yet."

Chakotay laughed too.

Having finished throwing the spider legs into the frying pan, the Doctor left Noss quietly humming as she stirred the big pot of spiders. He moved towards the hatch and glanced out the door unobtrusively.

The captain and commander were sitting exactly where he had left them, and Janeway was holding the finished spear tip, examining it with her fingers as Chakotay brushed the flakes on the ground into neat piles. "How's the headache?" Chakotay asked, not seeing the Doctor in the doorway.

"Nearly gone." She sighed. "As gone as my headaches ever are." Janeway sniffed a laugh.

"What?"

She held her hand out to Chakotay. "Do you remember two years ago when we crashed on that planet?"

He looked at her wryly, taking her hand. "Kathryn, we seem to crash into a lot of planets." He gestured around meaningfully. "You'll have to be more specific."

Janeway looked up at the sky and grinned. "The time I nearly died. Except I thought I kept dying. Do you remember?" She looked over at him.

Chakotay's face tightened a bit. "I'm not going to forget."

She nodded. "In one of the scenarios that played out, you succeeded in reviving me. You told me I'd have a headache for a while." Her face spread into a smile. "I told you I live with it."

"The headache?"

"Yes."

"Do you really always have a headache?"

"It seems like it."

"I wish you didn't."

"I think it comes with the big chair."

Chakotay sighed. "You're right. Occupational hazard."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and went back inside to tend to dinner. Noss smiled broadly at him and asked him if he would continue teaching her Standard in the morning. He agreed, and then stipulated that the two of them should also help Janeway and Chakotay learn to communicate in Rathok as well.

Together they removed the fried legs from the pan and began scooping spider stew into metal bowls. The Doctor wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a groan come from outside. He stopped momentarily and leaned towards the door.

"The blood flow should help -" was all he caught Chakotay say before Noss was handing him cups and telling him to fill them with water.

As the two of them finished setting the table, the Doctor turned to see Chakotay carrying Janeway inside. She was fast asleep.

"Commander?" he frowned. "Is she all right?"

He shrugged as best he could, and the Doctor thought his grin a little sheepish. "She fell asleep."

"Obviously. Why?"

Chakotay maneuvered around the two of them and made towards the general quarters. "I was rubbing her shoulders to get some blood to her head and she fell asleep."

And then he disappeared down the hallway with Janeway, leaving the Doctor feeling a bit frustrated, and Noss looking interested.

=/\=

A/N: We never found out what Noss's language, homeworld, or species was, so I made it up. You're welcome. Also, I've had heat exhaustion before and it is seriously scary. Any of you ever had it? Thanks for r/r.


	4. Day 21

Thank you everyone for leaving reviews - they make my day! Remember, I own nothing (as if you've forgotten?)

Day 21

The Last Man on Earth

=/\=

The Doctor hoisted the last of the stripped shuttle components onto the travois with a grunt. He did not, of course, have to exert effort to accomplish this task, but he had spent considerable time over the years trying to mimic the sounds humanoids made under stress and incorporate them into his routine in order to make his presence more realistic.

Janeway and Chakotay had decided to strip everything out of the shuttle that they could, and sort and cache components and materials in strategic locations around Noss' ship and the immediate area. That way, when hostile aliens – who had refused diplomacy and responded with aggression – tried to raid their area, their success would be minimal. The shuttle was therefore gutted. While most of the computer components were fused, and the right side of the craft half buried in the precarious butte they had hit, nearly everything else had been stripped and taken. The upholstery was sliced from the chairs, the metal rods that composed the chairs were salvaged; filters, vents, and isolinear chips were removed. This was the last of it, and the Doctor exited the shuttle with a feeling of finality.

Janeway was standing a few meters away, hands on hips, staring at the shuttle as if demanding to know why it had failed her. Chakotay stepped up to her and touched her back.

"You know we can't salvage it," he reminded the captain quietly.

The Doctor had heard the pair of them arguing about the shuttle for the past several days. Janeway wanted to try – again – to repair it, or at least fix the sensors enough to understand more than the obvious: that they were trapped in a gravity well. Chakotay had stoically and kindly reaffirmed what Janeway already knew: the shuttle was beyond repair, and so was everything in it. It was time to gut what they could and move on. Janeway had refused to do this. They couldn't just give up. Tuvok would still be trying to find them, and she had every confidence in him. And what about the last time she and Chakotay had vanished from the daily life of Voyager? Hadn't Harry Kim all but staged a mutiny to get them back? But Chakotay would hear none of it. _"Kathryn, you've had enough time to fuss, and it's time to let go. We both know that shuttle isn't moving again, and we're not getting any more sensor data out of her. We should salvage what we can and move on."_

Now the Doctor watched Janeway sigh and look at her first officer, her shoulders sagging just a bit. "I know. It just seems so…final. You know I have a hard time…letting go."

"Yes."

"Doctor, are we ready?" Janeway asked him.

"Yes. I've gone over every centimeter of the shuttle with a fine-tooth comb, so to speak. Everything that was remotely salvageable and useful has been removed. This is officially the last load." It was a relief to say after several days of hard salvage work.

"All right. Good work, gentlemen," she said, some of her captain's demeanor coming through even as she turned away from the last physical reminder of _Voyager. _"Let's get this up to the ship." She nodded towards Noss, who was standing near the trail that led up the cliff and across the mesa top to her ship.

Wordlessly, the three of them lifted the heavy carrier and set off towards their official new home. Noss smiled at them as they reached her, and she stowed her binoculars and took a corner next to Janeway and helped carry the load.

"Where will you bury these, captain?" she asked Janeway eagerly. Everything Noss said was eager – she had been alone far too long.

"Since most of this is bulky material we could use for patching your ship or making small shelters, I think we'll keep it close to hand. I don't want to carry this any further than we have too."

"Hear, hear," Chakotay added. "Although going up and down this cliff three times a day with a heavy load is excellent exercise."

"I thought you got enough of that running every morning," the Doctor quipped.

Chakotay shrugged as best he could while turning sideways to negotiate the narrow trail.

"His runs aren't exercise, they're torture," Janeway grinned, moving around the travois to walk backwards in front of it.

"What is 'torture?'" asked Noss

"_Dantum sek," _the Doctor supplied. He was astonished at how quickly Noss could pick up languages. After three weeks, Janeway and Chakotay were still struggling with the basics of Rathok.

"_Ayek. _Why torture?" asked Noss, understanding the definition but not the joke.

Janeway winked at the other woman. "You've never tried to run in Starfleet issue boots. They're not exactly comfortable."

Noss laughed appreciatively. "In one of the ships four days walk from mine, there are lots of clothes, probably male clothes. We can go and find boots for Chakotay."

"Shopping," Janeway laughed before Chakotay could reply. "Now there's something that I haven't done in a while."

This made everyone laugh as they hauled the travois up the last few meters to the mesa top and then collectively sighed and set their heavy burden down.

"Rest now," Noss said, sitting down on the ledge and looking back at the shuttle. The Doctor joined her, noting how the steep trail they had just climbed was nearly invisible, and that the distance from the shuttle to the cliff looked much shorter than it really was.

Noss looked curiously at him. "You are dirty, Doctor. How do holograms get dirty?" she asked, reaching over and trying to brush some dirt from his shoulder.

"I can't. It must be the light," he replied, glancing down at his immaculate uniform…and noticed his combadge was missing. "My combadge, it must have fallen off in the shuttle." He rose to his feet briskly. "I'll go back immediately."

Chakotay put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll get it," he offered, moving back towards the trail. "I think I'm scheduled for some more torture anyway." He flashed a grin and a wink at them and disappeared down the trail.

Janeway chuckled and joined them on the cliff, absently running a hand over her exposed and sunburned shoulder. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. Since coming here, Chakotay's skin had darkened visibly. Janeway had alternately burned and peeled, with freckles beginning to peer out of her normally pale skin with each successive peeling.

"I wish I had a sunblock for you, Captain," the Doctor said finally, touching her blistered shoulder.

She shrugged. "If I knew I was going sunbathing, I would have packed some." She gave him a wry smile. "Too bad I don't tan like Chakotay does."

"Tan?" Noss looked at Janeway.

"His skin color…deepened?" she tried.

"His skin got _very_ dark," Noss said.

"Yes."

"It is a nice color," Noss added. "There are people on my planet with skin like his. Very nice," she affirmed, and the Doctor noticed a teasing smile pass between her and Janeway.

"It is," Janeway agreed, accepting the smile and returning it.

They waited in silence for a few more moments before seeing Chakotay appear next to the shuttle as if from nowhere. He entered the shuttlecraft.

Seconds later, a whooshing, sucking sound behind them in the sky drew the three of them to their feet and around the travois. The sky was opening, and the black inkiness of space beyond their little gravity well was visible for several moments as an enormous piece of space debris – at least, that's what it looked like to the Doctor – was sucked into Arachnos' atmosphere. The ovaloid debris, burning with a comet tail now, hurtled towards the ground, causing hot wind and sand to fill the sky.

The three of them ducked their heads against the sudden onslaught of sand, even as Janeway stepped closer to watch the comet fall.

"Chakotay to Janeway. I've got the Doc's combadge and I'm coming back."

"Be careful," Janeway hollered back over the wind.

But her words were drowned out. As she spoke, the debris struck the earth with a jolt, and the ground heaved beneath them, sending them all tumbling to the ground. Janeway and the Doctor twisted around, and the Doctor rose to his knees in time to see the butte next to the shuttle split in half and collapse onto the shuttle in a cloud of dust, crushing it like an insect.

Even as the aftershocks continued to make the earth shudder, Janeway, the Doctor, and Noss scrambled to their feet and ran to the cliff, all looking frantically for any sign that Chakotay had escaped.

He wasn't there. There was a bubble of thick silence that encased them, shutting out the sounds of the earth still rumbling, as reality embraced them in its clutches.

Even as the Doctor was registering the shock for himself, beside him Janeway made a choking sound and her hand grabbed his arm like a vice. Alarmed, he turned to her. Her other hand was covering her mouth, and her blue eyes wide with horror.

"Captain?"

Beneath her hand, he could see her jaw trembling, and the hand on his arm would have left bruises on humanoid skin. She didn't answer him, but her chest convulsed, and the sound in her throat indicated to the Doctor that she wasn't getting oxygen. Abruptly, Janeway fell to her knees and she covered her face in her hands, rocking.

The Doctor glanced up at a frightened Noss and then again to Janeway. He had seen Janeway lose crewmen before, and he'd watched her face fall, her shoulders slump, and the light go out of her eyes. He knew those moments were public, but he also doubted she experienced debilitating grief over those losses the moment she returned to her quarters. Guilt, certainly. Sadness, of course.

Ironically, as he watched Janeway's ramrod-straight spine curve over to meet her knees, and listened to the ragged breathing and choking he dared not interfere with, the Doctor felt certain for the first time in several years that Janeway was emotionally stable. Not showing emotion was unhealthy for humans, and having to bottle it all up to save face as captain was bad for Janeway. But at this moment, as he watched her raw emotions rise up unfettered, he knew she had found some outlet for all the emotions of the past five years, and it had kept her sane. The Doctor turned away and looked back at the rubble pile, wondering what it was that had kept Janeway emotionally stable for all these years, chastised himself for thinking of such unrelated things when they had just lost Chakotay.

He was dimly aware of Noss moving away from them, back towards the trail, as he let Janeway deal with the first wave of loss. At last he heard her begin to cry, slow, shuddering sobs that shook her entire body. He watched her head shaking slowly back and forth. _No, no, no, no, no. _

A gasp from Noss distracted him, and the Doctor turned to see the other woman vanish down the trail. Concerned, he took several steps towards her only to have her reappear, face shining, leading Commander Chakotay by the hand.

The Doctor moved to him before he could reach the top. "Chakotay," he whispered, infinitely relieved. "How?"

"I got the hell out of there as soon as the ground shook." He was terse and covered in red dust. "I knew exactly what was going to happen." He handed him the combadge and made to step around the Doctor.

"Wait," the Doctor said, blocking his path. "We thought…she thinks…" He turned slightly and indicated Janeway, who still had her face buried in her hands, her body wracked by sobs.

Chakotay swore softly in a language the Universal Translator didn't know. His face softened, and the Doctor let him step around him. Chakotay took a few small steps towards Janeway. "Kathryn?" he asked quietly.

She didn't respond.

He took another step. "Kathryn."

Janeway's form froze, and the Doctor watched her face turn, taut, towards the sound of her name. Her face was completely unreadable when she saw Chakotay. Her eyes were red, her dirty face streaked with tears, and her jaw trembling.

"I wasn't in the shuttle," Chakotay said softly.

For a moment, the Doctor wasn't sure what Janeway would do. A dozen emotions flowed over her face, then suddenly she was on her feet, running, and Chakotay caught her up in his arms and she was weeping into his shoulder.

Noss slipped her hand into the Doctor's and she smiled. The Doctor squeezed her hand comfortingly as he watched Chakotay gently pull a shaking Janeway down to her knees so she didn't collapse. She hugged him tightly, her bare arms showing just how firmly she was holding onto him. His hands moved methodically up and down her spine, his chin keeping her head protectively tucked against him. Finally, Chakotay released her, found her hands around his neck and pulled away from her.

"I said I was coming back," he reminded her quietly, smiling kindly.

Janeway's clenched jaw slowly relaxed after a few moments. "Chakotay." She touched his face, staring intently into his eyes. "Don't ever do that to me again. You nearly killed me."

"Never again, Kathryn," he promised, returning her gaze.

Without warning, Janeway took his face in her hands, leaned forward, and kissed his forehead. "In case you haven't noticed," she said roughly through her tears, "you're the last man on earth."

Chakotay looked a bit stunned, and then he nodded slowly, and the Doctor saw tears sliding down the commander's face too.


	5. Day 30

All rights belong to Paramount.

DAY 30

Manna From Heaven

=/\=

"You see, Noss, if you use this control you can change what you are scanning for. It's automatically set to scan on multiple frequencies, but if you use this you can narrow it down and get more accurate data."

Janeway was taking Noss through some of the finer points of using a standard tricorder. Noss was incredibly intelligent – the biggest barrier between them was still language, even though she had made enormous strides in understanding Federation Standard. Janeway and Chakotay, not being linguists, had learned some basic greetings and questions, and a generous helping of nouns and verbs in Rathok, but couldn't get much beyond this. The Doctor was therefore an important part of their daily life in a way he'd never thought he would be.

Noss frowned and nodded slowly. She looked to the Doctor. "Frequenty?"

He nodded. "Frequencies. _Solakras betu._"

Her face cleared and she repeated everything Janeway had just told her, this time in her native tongue.

"Exactly," the Doctor affirmed. "You're quite the linguist, Noss."

She seemed pleased. "Thank you." She turned back to the tricorder and touched a series of controls. "Search for organic life forms. No rocks, no vessels, no technology."

"Perfect," Janeway said, touching Noss's shoulder. "And you can extend the range in this setting to receive data on something right in front of you -"

"Like you," Noss demonstrated, scanning Janeway's biosigns.

"Yes. Or you can look for lifesigns over a distance of several kilometers. Try that."

Noss adjusted the controls again and concentrated for a minute before speaking. "I see myself, you, Chakotay. There are plenty of spiders in the rocks near. What is these?"

She handed the tricorder to Janeway, and the Doctor saw her brow furrow for a moment. "This? This is…" Her face lit up. "Dinner," she told Noss, grabbing her shoulder. "Something alive out there besides spiders. It's a small animal – it probably lives off the spiders as well."

She stood up, carrying the tricorder and motioning for Noss and the Doctor to follow her. "Chakotay!" she called out as they stepped into the blinding sunlight.

He appeared a moment later, coming towards them from the direction of the distress beacon. "What is it?"

"Dinner," Janeway grinned as he jogged up to her.

He put a hand on her back and his other hand around the tricorder she was holding. "A small mammal of some kind?"

She touched his shoulder. "Feel like doing some hunting?"

Without another word Chakotay ran back into the ship and returned a moment later with the four spear-like implements that he and Janeway had crafted earlier.

Janeway jerked her head to indicate they all follow her, leading without realizing she was doing it. Sometimes the Doctor liked it best when Janeway unconsciously slipped back into captain mode. He had of course expanded his program with an understanding of small talk, banter, friendships, and even romantic relationships, but he was fairly sure he liked Janeway best as Captain Janeway. Despite the additions to his program, he was still first and foremost a Starfleet medical hologram, and command structures where what he was truly programmed to work within.

They headed down the slope south of Noss's downed craft, and Janeway broke into an excited jog as they neared a small saddle in the landscape. She paused, and they clustered around her.

"There," she whispered, pointing to a cluster of rocks about thirty meters beyond them. "It's a small mammal, approximately three and a half kilos. It moves fast, but I'm feeling lucky." She snapped shut the tricorder and stowed it in her belt. "Chakotay?"

He handed her one of the spears and nodded. "We're upwind from the creature, so be quiet and it shouldn't sense us. Doctor, move around until you're beyond those rocks. We'll fan out and try to flush it towards you."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Of course. And if the three of you weren't beginning to lose weight because of your diet, I would tell you that this is an inefficient waste of energy." Having thrown in his two cents, he grasped his own spear and began making his way down the slope. Once he had reached the other side of the saddle, beyond the rock formation, he turned and nodded to the others.

With an excitement the Doctor rarely saw in the command team, the pair of them and Noss fanned out and moved towards the rocks, Chakotay in the middle. Three meters before they reached the rocks, there was a shrill trilling, and the Doctor saw a small grayish life form – it looked something like an oversized ferret – flee the rocks and scurry across the ground towards Noss. She shouted and threw her spear.

It was a close thing, but the creature turned at the last moment and veered back towards Janeway. Janeway paused and readied herself, and then lofted her own spear at the creature. The spear fell half a meter short as the creature pulled itself up, frozen in surprise. The Doctor briefly wondered if it had ever seen another living creature aside from a spider. Chakotay took advantage of the creature's terror and fell to his knees beside it, drilling his own spear through the animal's skull.

The Doctor sprinted towards the trio, where Janeway and Noss where whooping and shouting like a couple of cadets on shore leave. He saw Chakotay lean down close to the animal and watched his lips move for a moment, before looking up to see Janeway bent over him, the widest grin ever on her face.

"Congratulations, Chakotay," the Doctor called out, reaching the site and looking down at what would become dinner.

"Thanks," Chakotay said, not looking at the Doctor but staring back at Janeway and grinning too.

Janeway extended her hand, and Chakotay grasped it and pulled himself up. "Good hunt," he told her. "Next thing you know, we'll have found a coffee maker behind a rock at the spring."

The Doctor determined that diet and environmental factors, coupled with the exhilaration of finding a new food source had impaired Janeway's judgment and made her giddy. She laughed and pulled Chakotay into a firm hug, which he returned fully.

Chakotay bent down and retrieved the animal. "What should we call it?" he asked. "Have you ever seen this before, Noss?"

Noss shook her head. "Never before. But there must be more!" Her eyes were shining.

"What about calling it manna?" Janeway asked.

"Manna?" Noss echoed. "What is that, Doctor?"

Yes, Janeway was definitely over-heated and under-nourished. He rolled his eyes. "Manna is a reference to an old earth mythology. A group of people called the Jews were crossing a vast desert and couldn't find food. Their god provided them with an unknown substance called manna, which appeared on the ground every morning."

Noss laughed. "Maybe not from a god, but it is a _jabt._"

"A miracle," the Doctor translated.

Chakotay held the speared animal out to Noss. "Do the honor of carrying it home?" he asked.

Delighted, Noss took the spear, and holding the animal high, grabbed the Doctor by the arm and began marching up the slope towards her ship, singing.

Perhaps the addition of some more substantial protein to their diet for a few meals would help off-set the giddiness everyone was feeling, the Doctor mused. Not that he begrudged them all their happiness, but he was beginning to feel irritable himself as the month progressed. He realized, belatedly, that he was having a difficult time letting go, just as the captain had. Unbidden, he saw Seven of Nine standing before him, her metal brow raised and her eyes amused. _"You will adapt, Doctor." _Maybe, he thought. The others certainly seemed to have. Noss was marching along, still singing and grinning from ear to ear. He glanced back at Janeway and Chakotay.

They had been walking together, talking. Chakotay took hold of the captain's hand and held it up between them, squeezing it tightly. They both laughed at something, and their hands dropped back down. The next time the Doctor chanced a look behind him, they still hadn't let go.

=/\=

The manna smelled divine as it roasted slowly over the stove in the galley. Noss had wasted no time in skinning and cleaning it, and then set it roasting over the cooking surface. Chakotay had claimed the pelt and was busying himself washing it. He and Janeway were discussing possibilities for the use of the small skin.

As the manna roasted, everyone gravitated into the mess hall, clearly starving. They had all agreed that there would be no spiders allowed at this meal. At long last, Noss pronounced the manna done, and carried it, still steaming hot, out to the table where they all gathered. With the excitement and solemnity of a holiday, they dished out generous helpings to each other – though none were as large as anybody wanted – and filled their glasses with water.

Feeling that a celebration was in order, the Doctor took an empty glass of water and held it up. "I'd like to make a toast, it I may," he said brightly.

"Hear, hear," agreed Janeway, turning her attention from the table to him.

"What is a toast?" asked Noss.

Chakotay smiled at her around Janeway. "It's an old earth custom. During a celebration, we all drink to someone's health, or the success of something."

She grinned brightly and nodded. "We have something like that. The _clakra soon_."

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically, gesturing with his glass. "To our safety, our friendship, a successful hunt, and one day – to finding our way home."

He was met with a duet of "cheers" from Janeway and Chakotay and "_clakra_" from Noss, and they all touched glasses and drank.

Timidly, Noss proposed a second toast. "If I may join. To you three: I was all alone here for too long. I had forgot what friends were, and what family was. So – to us all being friends, and to us being a family here."

"Thank you, Noss," Chakotay said softly, and they all drank again. The Doctor couldn't help but notice that the commander's fingers were curled around Janeway's as they sat on the bench next to each other at the low table.

"Well, we're halfway around the table," the Doctor said, nodding at Janeway and Chakotay. "I believe it's your turn to make some toasts."

"All right," said Janeway, turning to look at Chakotay.

Before she could seem to think of what to say, Chakotay's hand squeezed hers more tightly and he proposed a toast. "To the best hunting party I've ever been in. May we always work together as a team, and here's to many more nights eating manna from heaven."

Everyone laughed appreciatively and drank. Noss topped off their glasses from the pitcher of water and sat back to await Janeway's toast. Janeway took a deep breath and nodded. "To us," she said simply. "To beating the odds and not just surviving here, but thriving."

The Doctor and Noss clapped, Chakotay put his arm around Janeway's shoulder and squeezed. "Now," Chakotay declared, "let's eat!"

And eat they did. The Doctor had never seen their spirits this high on Arachnos, not even earlier in the day when they had speared the manna. Stories were exchanged, jokes were told, and Noss and the Doctor capped the entertainment off with a series of duets from earth and from Noss's homeworld. The Doctor knew that normally, Janeway and Chakotay listened to his stories and songs and attended his holo-image lectures with a minimum of enthusiasm. Tonight though, they settled themselves together against the wall and listened with only slightly less-than-rapt attention. Slightly less-than-rapt, because Chakotay seemed to have discovered a new fascination with holding Janeway's hand, which hadn't seemed to have been far from his grasp since they started the evening. At first the Doctor was surprised that Janeway allowed this highly unprofessional attention, even now. But after recalling her violent reaction to nearly losing Chakotay a few days ago, he decided that some genuine affection was probably exactly what both she and Chakotay needed.

Thank you for all the kind reviews and follows. Keep it up, it makes writing my thesis easier *rolls eyes*


	6. Day 33

You know the drill, all good things belong to Paramount.

DAY 33

For Their Eyes Only

=/\=

The Doctor noticed the flagging of spirits in which the living trio of his new family prepared their dinner. Clearly, all of them had entertained high hopes of finding more manna in the surrounding area. Despite their careful tricorder scans and visual surveys, the only manna in evidence was the one they had eaten. And they had eaten ALL of it.

After scanning the manna's bones to make sure there was nothing harmful in them, they had cracked open the longbones and eaten the marrow. The Doctor was quite proud of them for this. The texture of marrow was not exactly appealing, although an acquired taste for spiders may have made the substance more palatable. The organs, too, had been fashioned into meals and consumed. The vitamin, caloric, and overall health levels of Janeway, Chakotay, and Noss had jumped during those three days, and then quickly lowered to the usual sub-par level of their spider diet.

"I'd kill for another manna right now," Chakotay sighed, leaning against the wall and eyeing his empty bowl. The Doctor had watched the commander dutifully consume three spiders. He was certain that a big man like Chakotay could have easily eaten twice the quantity of food, but when it came to their current diet, he didn't want to. He had lost a few kilos, and it showed. His jawline had become more pronounced, and his shoulders seemed overly broad in proportion to his slimming stomach. Even Janeway, whom the Doctor hadn't thought was capable of losing weight, was markedly thinner. When she bent over he could see the rib lines under her gray tank.

"I hope you mean you'd kill the manna and not us, commander," the Doctor chipped in jokingly.

The big man smiled and shrugged. "I don't know why you're worried, Doc, I don't think I'd be a threat to a hologram even if I did go on a homicidal rampage."

Janeway and Noss chuckled from the other side of the table, and the Doctor felt something knock at his knee. He glanced down.

"Sorry, Doctor," Janeway apologized, and he saw her rest her boot on the commander's knee.

"I believe we just established that I am incapable of being physically damaged," he joked, briefly wondering when Chakotay's knee had become an ottoman.

"Now you sound like Seven," Janeway said, leaning against the wall opposite them and running her hand through her hair, which the Doctor noted had grown four centimeters since they had arrived.

At the mention of Seven, a stab of pain hit the Doctor. "I did spend a great deal of time with her. I consider her one of my closest friends." He paused and looked about distractedly. "I…miss her."

Janeway's face clouded. "I'm sorry," she said huskily. The Doctor could almost see her turn inward.

Chakotay jumped in. "We all miss our friends," he said quietly. "And I'm sure they miss us."

Noss nodded. "And they…move…_yelt? _How do you say it?"

The Doctor smiled sadly at her. "Move on. Continue with their lives."

"Just as we have here," Chakotay said firmly. "I don't know about any of you, but this is one of the best groups of people I could think of to be marooned here with."

The Doctor had the feeling that Chakotay was running distraction to keep Janeway from feeling guilty unnecessarily. He picked up the cue and ran. "I agree. However," he grinned at Janeway, "I must say that Tom Paris' commentary would lend an interesting note to our proceedings."

Chakotay leaned forward and met the Doctor's eyes. "Can you imagine Tom having to live off of spiders for a month?"

"He would never complain about Neelix's cooking again."

Thankfully, Janeway laughed and leaned forward too, her eyes alight. "Forget Tom, can you imagine _Tuvok? _Every meal would be a lesson in the logic of survival."

All three of them laughed, and Noss smiled at their glee. "Your shipmates?"

"Yes," Janeway supplied. She looked over at Chakotay, the mischievous glint not quite gone from her eye. When she spoke, it was with her command voice. "Commander, I want you to assemble five possible away teams for our current mission. See if you can find a good balance of crewmen with humor, survival skills, and a stomach of iron."

Chakotay's chest hitched and he stifled a laugh. "Aye, Captain. Tuvok and Tom would be my first pick for survival and humor. For the stomach, I'd have to throw in crewman Chell."

Janeway doubled over in a totally uncharacteristic a fit of giggles.

"Or, we could have B'Elanna and Seven with Neelix."

Janeway hit at Chakotay with her empty cup. "I think you may have gone too far there. I'm afraid I'll just have to command this away team."

The Doctor turned to fill Noss in on who Chell and Neelix were, as she already knew about most of the others. Janeway and Chakotay continued to argue good-naturedly over whom would be best on this away mission for another five minutes before Chakotay said he wanted an early night.

"Goodnight, commander," the Doctor told him pleasantly as he rose from the table.

"I am tired too," Noss said. "Kathryn, would you please…"

Janeway held up a hand. "I've got the dishes, don't worry. You two get some sleep." The Doctor swore Janeway winked at Chakotay as he left the room.

He smiled briskly at the captain and began gathering up bowls. "Shall we?" he asked.

"Let's do," Janeway agreed with a deep nod, and rose from the table and scooped the cups into her arms.

The two of them busied themselves with the pot of hot water, rinsing and wiping down all of the plates and cooking utensils thoroughly in the absence of soap. Somewhere between hygiene and immunity building, the Doctor was pleased that none of them had gotten sick yet. As they finished, Janeway glanced at him.

"Would you like me to deactivate you for the night?"

The Doctor imitated taking an invigorating breath. "No thank you. I think I'll take a stroll around the ship and look at the moon. If that's all right with you, Captain."

She raised a hand in protest. "I'm not sure 'captain' is the right term anymore, Doctor. We've been here over a month now. _Voyager _is gone, I'm sure of it. Tuvok would have tried everything he could have, and then done exactly what I would have: set a course for the Alpha Quadrant. I'm afraid we have the rest of our lives to explore Arachnos very thoroughly."

The Doctor tried to be supportive. "Well, should any passing Starfleet ships sixty years from now drop by, I'm sure they will find a _very _thorough report on Arachnos."

They shared a sympathetic smile. Then the Doctor decided to ask. "I know why Commander Chakotay decided to call the planet Arachnos…but why did you _let_ him?"

Janeway smiled and shook her head. "Why, Doctor? Well, why not? After all, I am Queen of the Spider People."

The Doctor chuckled and gave in. "And I'm the President of Earth."

"Well, Mr. President, I'll see you in the morning," Janeway told him, giving him a mock salute and heading down the galley and into the hallway.

"Certainly, Your Highness."

The saucy glare Janeway gave him as she turned the corner would have brought a lesser hologram to his knees.

The Doctor turned on his heel and went outside where he sat down against a boulder, looking up at the moon and listened to the wind rustling through the stubby grasses. It was soothing, if a hologram needed soothing, and he stretched his legs out and pondered what would become of him. Janeway, Chakotay, and Noss would be alive and kicking for quite a while unless there was a famine or illness struck. What would he do after that?

His silent musings were interrupted a few minutes later by quiet voices just inside the hatch.

"Kathryn?"

"I thought you went to bed," came the amused reply.

"You were talking to the Doctor."

The Doctor frowned at the non sequitur.

"Not for very long."

There was a beat. Finally, "thank you."

"Does it…will it work?" Hesitant.

The Doctor wished he could see what Janeway and Chakotay were talking about.

"Yes," Chakotay said softly.

"I wasn't sure…but I knew you would have wanted…"

Unable to control his curiosity, the Doctor shifted silently on the ground and peered through the shadows into the ship. Janeway and Chakotay were standing several paces apart, somewhat awkwardly, given their earlier behavior. Chakotay was holding what appeared to be a small length of cloth in his hand. As the Doctor looked closer though, he recognized it as the manna skin, the grey, soft pelt that Chakotay had cleaned and then surrendered to Noss and Janeway as a "supply."

"You're right. If I'd known this was the last away mission I would go on, I would have brought my medicine bundle. I've missed it."

"I know it's not the same, and I realize there's not much here -" Janeway gestured vaguely around, "but I had hoped it might help you sleep."

Chakotay looked down at his hands and ran his fingers through the soft pelt. "You noticed?" he asked quietly.

Janeway stepped a bit closer. "You toss and turn more than some dogs I've had," she finished a bit wryly.

He chuckled. "Thanks. I'll find something to put in it, I'm sure."

"Would it be prying to ask what besides rocks and spiders you could find?"

Chakotay stepped in too. "If you're worried about me bringing home a pet spider, don't. It's all I can do to keep from vaporizing them with a phaser."

Janeway laughed lightly and closed the last of the awkward distance between them so they were standing closely, just as they usually did.

"And as for rocks," Chakotay continued. "I do have a couple set aside. One of them is a nice flake from the purple stone I used to make your spear."

Janeway's head bowed and the Doctor saw the soft light glint red off her hair.

Chakotay raised her chin with a finger and looked intently at her. "I think you should get some sleep now, Kathryn."

She nodded mutely, and their hands found each other's, and they walked back into the galley and out of sight. The Doctor resettled himself against the boulder and turned back to the sky. He couldn't quite put his finger on what he had just seen, but he was certain that it had not been meant for his eyes. He would keep this to himself.

Please leave a review! Thank you to all my wonderful readers, I hope you are enjoying this.


	7. Day 43

Thanks for reading, everyone. :) All rights go to Paramount, and I sadly will probably never make any money writing Voyager stories. Ah well.

DAY 43

Coffee, Novels, and Holodeck Withdrawal

=/\=

The Doctor noticed that Chakotay was restless. The heat, the monotony, the food…it must be unbearable for organic beings. It was bad enough for holograms.

"Commander, how are you this morning?" the Doctor asked brightly as he moved towards the rock Chakotay was sitting on, staring at the horizon.

"I told you, we dropped the rank," Chakotay reminded him pleasantly as the Doctor appeared at his elbow.

"Yes, well, when I'm only activated intermittently I tend to _miss _things," he pointed out. "Like your newfound boredom."

Chakotay shrugged. "It's nothing," he said lightly, and sounded almost like he meant it.

"Of course it is. 'Nothing' is what you have to do all day. You need a hobby." The Doctor was feeling overly fresh and efficient. He had been reactivated after three days by Noss, who was anxious to demonstrate her efficiency in oral translation. This morning she had told him several colorful creation myths, all in Standard. The Doctor wished he could take the same pride in Janeway and Chakotay's facility with Rathok. They could barely do more than list objects in the ship and tell Noss good morning.

"That's just it, Doc," Chakotay said, looking at him evenly. "I _have _hobbies. I just don't have a holodeck."

"Ah," the Doctor said knowingly. "Your beloved boxing simulation. Perhaps you could spar with me," he offered. "I am familiar with all of the routine injuries incurred through boxing, and could extrapolate the moves involved to – "

Chakotay got off his rock abruptly and shook his head. "Thanks Doctor, but I don't think it would be quite the same." With a quick smile, he turned and headed off towards the distress beacon.

The Doctor recognized this brush-off technique. In the days before his mobile emitter, anyone who tired of listening to him simply walked out of sickbay, possibly thinking it more polite than deactivating his program mid-sentence. He sighed heavily. Noss had gone to hunt for spiders, and he was feeling talkative. If Chakotay didn't want to talk, perhaps he could find the captain and talk with her.

=/\=

He found her sitting inside the ship's mess hall, reading a book. He didn't remember her bringing any books along on the away mission.

"Ah, captain, and how are you today?" he enthused.

She looked up from the book with a wry smile. "All right, thank you. And its Kathryn now, remember? It's been over a month…" She trailed off and went back to her book.

Morale was clearly low, then. Determined to get a better reaction out of her than Chakotay, the Doctor took a chair and pressed on. "I didn't know you had brought a book along."

She didn't look up, but her eyebrow arched. "I haven't. Noss found this in another downed craft two seasons ago. She doesn't recognize the language."

"Do you?"

"No."

"But you're…reading…it anyway?"

Janeway sighed and sat up in her chair, regarding him amusedly. "Doctor – there's nothing here to read except tricorder data and Noss's recipes for spiders. I needed _something_."

"But if you can't read it -"

She reached across the table and smiled. "My mother used to tell me that when I was little, before I learned to read, that I would pull books off of shelves and sit and look at them for hours. I would make up stories, because I knew there were stories inside the books even though I didn't know exactly what they were."

It was the Doctor's turn to be amused. "And are you making up a story now?"

Janeway examined the book for a moment before answering. "Maybe. For all I know it's the instruction manual to some alien equivalent of a coffee maker." Her eyes glazed for a moment. "Damn - I miss coffee."

The Doctor straightened in his chair. "Kathryn," he said officiously, "I realize that we may have dismissed the command chain her on Arachnos," – he noted the smile that flitted across her lips – "but I am still a doctor. And it's my medical opinion that you and Chakotay are becoming dangerously bored."

The smile held her mouth. "There's nothing wrong with some good, old-fashioned boredom," she said. "Heaven knows we deserve a vacation. And you've only just been reactivated, how do you know how bored we are?" Her tone was a bit playful, as if she was teasing him.

He shook his head and persevered. "Boredom can lead to depression. And since you already have a history of it…"

She held up her hand to quiet him. "Noted." She sounded more like her old self already. "If you think we're in danger of depression, I'll find something for us to do. _Something_." She glanced around the dank interior of the ship, as if willing inspiration to come.

"You're telling yourself stories in books you can't read, and Chakotay is pining after his boxing program. Maybe we could find a different activity, one that you could both enjoy."

"Boxing?" she said absently. Her eyes flickered with light for a moment.

"Yes. All this pent-up energy the two of you have. We need to find an activity for you to keep your minds off things."

Janeway looked distant, but this time with a glint in her eye that bespoke planning. "Boxing," she said again. Her eyes refocused and she smiled. "I think I may have just found a solution to our problem," she informed him, and excused herself, leaving the Doctor to stare at the alien book on the table.

After a few minutes, he picked up the book and began to read.

=/\=

The Doctor insisted that he remain activated until Janeway and Chakotay had found something to direct their energies into. He was frankly at a loss. The shuttle had been completely gutted and salvaged before its destruction. The terrain for twenty-five kilometers around Noss' ship had been mapped, along with hideouts of hostile aliens. Janeway didn't even want to try an alliance with these beings. That itself spoke volumes to the Doctor. Janeway didn't see herself as a captain anymore, or as a Starfleet liaison. Perhaps she didn't know what she was anymore. As for Chakotay, the Doctor was coming to the realization that he didn't know Chakotay very well. He had no idea of what on a D class planet would be of interest to him. There were no ruins aside from shuttles, no ancient writing, no past civilizations to study. Whatever idea Kathryn had had needed to be a good one, because the Doctor certainly hadn't come up with anything.

The Doctor was going to hunt for spiders. Given that he didn't have to eat them, he felt that putting his efficient optical sensors and excellent reflexes to the test might be…exhilarating. Bag in one hand, subterranean vibrator in the other, he walked around the side of the ship and noticed Janeway and Chakotay a short distance away. Janeway was approaching with a spider bag in one hand and a wry grin on her face. Curious to see what it was she had come up with for a new hobby, the Doctor waited in the shadow of the vessel.

"I've got a surprise for you," Janeway said, holding up the bag for Chakotay to see.

He shook his head. "Thanks, Kathryn, but I had enough spiders for breakfast."

Her face broke into a grin and she tossed the bag to him. "Open it. That's an order."

He shrugged, admitting defeat, and reached inside the bag. The Doctor watched Chakotay pull out a pair of crude, but undeniable, boxing gloves. His face lit up slowly as he turned them over in his hands, then stared at Janeway. "How did you make these?" he asked finally, a disbelieving smile on his face.

She reached for one of the gloves and slid it onto her hand. "I used upholstery and padding from the shuttle. I heard you were missing your sparring partner." Her voice was low and soft, but her face was flooded with pleasure at having cobbled something recognizable together for a friend.

Chakotay tried on the glove he was holding, flexing his hand experimentally and pressing the glove into his other palm. He eyed Janeway admiringly. "Not bad," he said. "I'm impressed. Thank you."

The Doctor noticed that Janeway actually blushed at the compliment as she handed him the other glove. "You're welcome. I know it's not quite the holodeck, but…"

Chakotay forestalled her excuses. "It's better that the holodeck. I haven't had handmade gloves since I started boxing at the Academy. And those were second-hand. These -" he held his hands up and clapped them together- "are special."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at the pair of them. Perhaps simply _having _the boxing gloves would make Chakotay happier, even if there was still nobody for him to spar with.

Or maybe there was.

Janeway smiled and pretended to punch Chakotay's arm. "If I told you I made two pairs, would you teach me to spar?"

Ah. The Doctor felt his smile broaden. Not _just _boxing gloves. Boxing gloves, a sparring partner, and the mutual task of teaching and learning. Janeway's idea _had _been good.

"You want to box?" Chakotay asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes."

He nodded. "Of course, Kathryn." Then he chuckled. "Where did this idea come from?"

Janeway winked. "I think I read it in a book somewhere."

You know the drill, R&R is good for the soul. Also, I would pay money to watch Chakotay teach Janeway to box.


	8. Day 49

Enjoy, and don't panic too much during the holiday rush – not worth it.

=/\=

Day 49

Bruised Metaphors

=/\=

For the eighth time in fifteen minutes, Janeway stumbled backwards and fell into the rust-covered soil.

The Doctor watched as Chakotay stepped forward and extended a gloved hand to her, a wry smile on his face. "You're dropping your guard when you attack from your left side."

Janeway cringed as she accepted his hand and heaved herself back to her feet. "Obviously. How many times have you got me like that?"

"Eight," the Doctor volunteered from the shaded boulder that he and Noss were sitting on.

Janeway frowned at him. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Be careful, Kathryn, I wouldn't want to have to treat you for broken ribs or a bruised tailbone."

Chakotay laughed. "I won't hurt her, Doc."

"Nothing wounded except my pride, I'm afraid," Janeway sighed, pushing her gloved hand into her hip. "And possibly my tailbone."

Chakotay tipped his head. "Have you had enough for today?"

Janeway straightened and glared. "What do you think?"

"I think you'll say no."

"No, I haven't. Come on, show me again."

Chakotay stepped around so he was paralleling her moves, and began walking her through a left jab that didn't leave her entire left side unguarded. The Doctor smiled and thumbed through the images on his holoimager.

"You have lots of pictures?" Noss asked.

"Over five hundred," the Doctor announced merrily, handing Noss the camera. "If we ever return to _Voyager_, I'm hoping to keep up the tradition of holophoto shows. The crew quite enjoys seeing my away missions and tidbits I gather from around the ship."

Noss scrolled through the pictures, smiling. "If we get out, will you give me copies, Doctor? I want to show my friends."

"Of course."

There was a stumbling sound, and the Doctor redirected his attention to the makeshift boxing ring, where Janeway was once again lying on her back, shaking her head. Chakotay towered over her, grinning wryly. "Kathryn, I _told _you."

"I know, I know. Don't let my elbow come out so far."

The Doctor elbowed Noss gently. "Get some pictures of that, will you? The indomitable Captain Janeway, finally defeated by the Maquis Mauler."

Noss laughed and raised the camera, snapping pictures. "What is 'Maquis'?"

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, trying to phrase his response carefully. "Back home in the Alpha Quadrant there is a…complicated… political conflict going on. Starfleet is very squarely on one side of the argument, but there are those that had disagreed with that stance. They call themselves the Maquis, and are a group of…freedom fighters. Chakotay was the captain of the Maquis vessel that Captain Janeway was sent to capture, but they both ended up here, in the Delta Quadrant. They combined their crews to survive."

Noss glanced at him, surprised. "Kathryn did not say that to me. They were political enemies?"

The Doctor nodded heavily, not surprised that the captain had left that out. It was ancient history as far as the crew was concerned. "Yes. Had things gone according to plan, Captain Janeway would have brought Chakotay and his crew back to earth to stand trial for terrorism."

"_Zaldat. Esht raht_, that is awful," she breathed.

The Doctor blinked, caught somewhat off-guard at Noss' colorful choice of words. "Well…yes, I suppose it does seem awful from our perspective. But if things had gone according to plan, Kathryn and Chakotay would never had gotten to know each other, so we don't have to feel bad for them, right?"

Noss shook her head furiously. "No, that is worse, _zaldat_! There is a group of people on the _Zant _continent of my homeworld, and they practice the _Szhe-rahk _faith. I too, favor it. They believe that all of the... how do you say, the _yuk suk'yuk - _"

The Doctor frowned, running through possible translations. Finally, he tried, "the might-have-beens?"

"Yes. _Yuk suk'yuk _always are true. There are many true worlds, an infinite number for every person, and also for every interaction between people. All these things happen, and there is an infinite number of possibilities of being sad, and of being happy every day. And they are all true and important."

"Ah, a multiverse. For every person, there is an infinite number of that same individual in infinite universes, making decisions. And all of the outcomes, in this faith, are valued?"

Noss nodded. "Yes. There are kinds of me that were not stranded here, and kinds of me that were. Some died. Some lived. Some escaped. Some never went to space, but stayed in _Blegri _and found a partner and had children. All of these kinds I would be aware of, and I feel happy for some and sad for others. And so with Kathryn and Chakotay I feel sad for knowing how close this true life came to be a different truth."

Noss looked forlornly at the couple that was now slowly circling each other, Kathryn working on her left jab, Chakotay stopping just short of landing his glove on her unprotected side. "_Yuk suk'yuk_. _Yal brea sherac,_" she whispered. "Be happy in your truth."

The Doctor was a bit startled by her fervent prayer for the command team. As far as he was concerned, the two were solid friends, and nothing in the universe was going to change that. If the Borg or Species 8472 or major political differences couldn't do it, he wasn't certain that anything could.

"All right, Chakotay, that's enough beating me up for one day, okay?" Janeway stepped away from the tall man and dabbed at the sweat on her brow. Last week Noss had taken them to a downed vessel a day's walk from her own. It had been partially buried in a sand drift and was badly damaged, but was full of clothing from the former crew. They had brought back some more comfortable boots for Chakotay, and several odd pieces of clothing that were more lightweight than their own uniforms. Sadly, all of the clothing had been meant for a humanoid at least Chakotay's height and build. Now, the Doctor chuckled as Janeway pulled an enormous beige tunic over her Starfleet tank top. The tunic fell past her knees, and she had unceremoniously ripped ten centimeters from the sleeve length. She looked rather like a peasant from earth's early history.

Chakotay, on the other hand, looked quite good in his new clothes. The grey tunic he had found fit very well, and he had worn his new black trousers every day. They were a rougher, thicker, denim-like material that wore well and stood up to the harsh environment and hardier lifestyle on Arachnos. Noss had very loudly complimented him on these pants, which, for some reason the Doctor couldn't fathom, had caused Janeway to laugh for a full three minutes.

The pair of them stumbled over to the shaded boulder and Noss and the Doctor made room for them. "Here is some water," the Doctor announced, thrusting two full water canteens on them. "You'll need to both drink at least a liter and a half."

The pair of them simultaneously rolled their eyes and accepted the water. Janeway sat numbly and drank, staring into the dirt in front of her and absently rolling her left shoulder. The Doctor made a mental note to ask her how she was feeling in several hours when the real soreness set in.

Noss tipped herself onto the ground and handed Chakotay a towel. "You asked me to bring this, right?"

Chakotay smiled. "Right. Thanks, Noss."

"Of course," she said, and the Doctor saw her wink at Janeway.

Chakotay lowered himself from the boulder and stepped a pace away, pulled off his soaked tank, and began vigorously rubbing the towel into his hair.

Janeway coughed and stared hard at the ground. After a moment, she said very evenly, "My shoulders are killing me."

The Doctor reached for her shoulder, probing it for any damage. "You seem to be all right, Kathryn. Chakotay has done no permanent damage."

She choked on her water and her cheeks turned bright red. "Doctor - "

Chakotay appeared at the Doctor's side, brow raised. "I think, Doc, that she was speaking metaphorically." The big man winked at him, then playfully nudged Janeway off the boulder before climbing back on it himself.

=/\=

A/N: I know nothing about boxing, kind of the same way I know nothing about pool. But I think a pool table would be harder for them to jury-rig. Oh well. Read and review, and have a lovely afternoon!


	9. Day 51

You know the drill, folks. All rights to Paramount. Also, I don't use a beta reader, so any (and there are some) mistakes you're seeing are direct from your's truly.

=/\=

DAY 51

Allowable

=/\=

The Doctor was aware that he was gaping openly, but was too stunned to look away. From his mostly sheltered position in the ship's galley, with Noss seated on a stool to his right, completely obscured by cabinetry, he continued to stare back into the eating area.

Chakotay was standing behind Janeway's chair, rubbing her no-doubt sore shoulders and speaking quietly. Smiles flitted across the captain's face and she chuckled at something only she could hear.

"You see?" Noss whispered knowingly. "I don't think it was how well you can undo knots. I think it is _who _is undoing them."

Somewhat shaken, the Doctor looked distractedly back at his companion. "How do you know?" he asked in a brusque whisper. "I am programed the expertise of over four hundred masseuses from seventy-nine species. And I don't get tired." Five minutes ago he had been summarily dismissed by Janeway after offering his services in response to her useless attempts to rub her own shoulders.

Noss raised an eyebrow questioningly, a gesture that she had picked up from him. "She likes him to do it," she insisted, never looking around the cabinet to see what was going on.

The Doctor was suspicious. "Wait – you don't even know what – how long has this been going on?" he demanded through his teeth. He knew he had only been active some of the time lately, but in the last several days nothing except Noss' mild heat fatigue seemed different. How long had the captain and commander been, well…_flirting_?

Noss gave an uncommitted shrug and smiled. "A time."

Furious at having been kept out of the loop, and astonished beyond anything he had experienced before, the Doctor moved further behind the galley cabinetry and continued to watch. It was terribly bad manners, but he had to know what was going on.

Now Chakotay laughed softly and bent over to look at Janeway's face. A full smile, un-weighted by command and responsibility, answered his and she playfully swatted at his face and he straightened. He continued massaging her shoulders for a few more minutes before the Doctor saw him gently comb his fingers through Janeway's hair. She seemed to take this as meaning he was finished, and she raised her chin to look up at him.

They exchanged a few words, each of which, the Doctor noticed, seemed to deepen their smiles and put them further at ease. This was _allowed_, the Doctor thought in astonishment. Not only allowed, this was _welcome. _And quite possibly – natural.

Chakotay bowed his head until their noses met. Janeway's shoulders shook with the slightest laugh, and then she straightened her back and turned her head until her mouth met his in a series of soft, gentle kisses.

The Doctor nearly fell over, certain his visual subroutines had been compromised in what was hopefully some sort of elaborate practical joke. If Noss was feeling the strain of the heat, then possibly the captain and commander where too, and they had decided to trick him into thinking that… His logic matrices removed this train of thought. Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay would never tamper with him like that. Tom Paris, possibly, but not the command team. It had to be real, then.

"Noss?"

She twisted on her stool to peer around the cabinet with him and she smiled and nodded, confirming the fact that he was indeed watching Janeway kiss Chakotay. Now her hand was on his forehead, touching the tattoo he wore, and she eased off. The same smiles, same glint in the eyes were shared.

Again there were words exchanged that the Doctor could not hear in spite of his optimal auditory subroutines. Chakotay moved away grinning, backing towards the hallway that led outside. At last, the Doctor heard something from Janeway as she rose from her chair and ran her hands through her hair.

"Yes. I'll meet you outside in a minute."

Before she could refocus her attention and look at the galley, the Doctor turned and hurried down the length of the galley and into the adjoining corridor that held everyone's quarters. He grabbed Noss's arm as he went. "It is my professional opinion that you should get some sleep now," he ordered her, and she laughed that strange laugh of hers as they went.

=/\=

TBC. Thank you for all your reviews and follows!


	10. Day 53

Thank you for all the kind reviews and follows! I'm glad you're enjoying. As an aside, even though that was the first time the Doctor saw them kiss, it wasn't the first time they'd done it. You get to pick at what points during the story the two of them took certain steps.

=/\=

DAY 53

Workplace Flirtation

=/\=

The Doctor felt that some snooping was in order. For the past two days he had quietly and thoroughly observed Janeway and Chakotay's behavior. The relationship had obviously moved from colleagues and friends to friends to…_what? _ The Doctor's brow furrowed as he watched Janeway, Chakotay, and Noss play some kind of game with stones and cups. It looked somewhat like checkers.

He mentally ran through the list of observed behaviors in the past 48 hours. First there were the static changes. The Doctor had found a flint-knapped Starfleet symbol on the table in Janeway's quarters, no doubt a gift from Chakotay. In Chakotay's quarter's, Janeway's boxing gloves were hung prominently beside his bed, and yesterday afternoon he had spent two hours helping Janeway refine her punching technique on their make-shift punching bag. The Doctor was willing to let these kinds of things go as signs of a healthy friendship. He didn't doubt that the pair of them engaged in similar activities on _Voyager. _In fact, it was common knowledge (and now that he thought about it, a hot topic of gossip) that the two of them had dinner together several times a week, and frequented the holodeck together.

But there were other whispered behaviors on _Voyager _that were not quite so common knowledge. According to Tom Paris - who was backed up by Harry Kim - the captain and commander spent most of the last hour of their bridge shift chatting quietly together. Besides this, Paris had a running tally on the amount of time Janeway and Chakotay spent in the captain's ready room. So far, the winning number was 2.1 hours. The average was .75 hours a day.

These were facts that the Doctor had found uninteresting on board _Voyager_, as he saw Janeway and Chakotay as simply the command team. Friends, certainly. Anything more, likely out of the question. But in light of the new circumstances on Arachnos, the Doctor was beginning to remember more and more tidbits that Paris and Kim had fed him over the years. Suspicions about the two months spent on New Earth. Arguments on the bridge, laughter from the ready room. The constant supply of fresh flowers in said room. The Doctor closed his eyes and accessed a memory from 16 months ago, when Paris and Torres had been chatting in sickbay…while Paris was on duty.

_"Hey, careful. What if the captain walked in and saw you hovering over me like this?" Torres had been bent over a console, running a routine diagnostic on the holoemitters in sickbay, with Paris in turn bent right over her._

_ "I don't think she has the right to say anything," Paris whispered huskily in Torres' ear. "You've seen the way Chakotay hovers over her."_

_ Torres rolled her eyes and turned her head. "Chakotay isn't trying to bite her ear, though." She went back to her work._

_ Paris had leaned in and bit Torres' ear and chuckled. "I don't know. The way he looks at her sometimes…"_

_ "Careful," she growled. "Do you want the captain to keelhaul you?"_

_ "Or the Maquis Mauler to knock me out?"_

_ "He'd do it. You take one step too close to something he doesn't want you to - "_

_ "Like the captain, for instance?"_

_ She shook her head and took a step to the other end of the console. "You know the way he glares at anyone who gets too close to her."_

_ Paris had laughed. "I don't think she even notices, to tell you the truth."_

_ Torres straightened and faced Tom. "Oh, she notices."_

_ "Does she?" he asked flatly._

_ "Yes. And she plays the same game he does."_

_ "Does she? I think I would have noticed. I spend a lot of time on the bridge."_

_ Torres had given him a pitying smile. "It's not just things on the bridge. It's…walking down a corridor practically stepping on top of each other. It's that funny look she gives him in the mess hall during a birthday party. The way she spends most of the staff meeting standing behind his chair. She knows, Tom."_

The Doctor opened his eyes and saw Janeway laugh and bump Chakotay's shoulder while they re-arranged the game pieces. Clearly hints of a relationship beyond friendship had been in front of him for years, he just hadn't noticed. They weren't just hints anymore. Chakotay had kissed Janeway on the cheek last night before heading to bed. Janeway had kissed him on the cheek both mornings. They had spent most of the previous evening watching the sunset and planet-rise together, her head resting on his shoulder.

And then there was the interminable hand-holding. Both of them seemed incapable of traversing a space without snatching at the other's hand, or Janeway linking her arm in his in a manner that suggested comfortable familiarity with the posture. Of course it was familiar – the Doctor had seen them arrive arm-in-arm for multiple festive occasions on _Voyager_. He just hadn't thought about it. He determined that, if they ever returned to the ship – which was unlikely – he would have a long talk with Tom Paris about the intricacies of human intimacy in public places. He had studied dating, relationships, and marriages, but had completely neglected the subtle field of workplace flirtation.

Evidently Janeway and Chakotay were masters of this art. Without ever being more physical than an occasional touch of hands or supportive squeeze of the shoulder, they had managed to forge an intimacy that both stood up to Starfleet officer scrutiny and their crews' wild and bored imaginations.

The Doctor closed his eyes again and called up all ocular memory files for Janeway in Chakotay in the past couple of years. By now he was not surprised to find confirmation of this silent drama played out in front of him. Chakotay standing right over the captain's shoulder, and her long deep look at him. Her hand resting briefly and lightly on his chest, his face. Smiles exchanged. Looks that at the time had puzzled the Doctor, but now he understood contained entire conversations.

The Doctor huffed a sigh. They weren't on _Voyager _anymore, and it was likely that they wouldn't ever be again. Noss seemed to have understood the mutual attraction and accepted it without feeling the need to inform him of her knowledge. Kathryn and Chakotay certainly hadn't said anything to him outright – it was all quiet things, just like it had been on the ship. Quiet things that his sophisticated program had not picked upon.

Perhaps…perhaps the time had come to admit to his ignorance – he shuddered at the thought – and _ask_.

Eventually.


	11. Day 62

Merry Christmas to all my readers! I hope this chapter will be a nice J/C present for you, because you all deserve nothing but the best. Standard disclaimers apply!

=/\=

Day 62

All In

=/\=

"Watch out," Janeway warned as she tossed the dishrag over the Doctor's head. He felt it skim the top of his projection as he ducked down. On his other side, Chakotay reflexively caught the rag.

"A bit more warning next time, please," the Doctor huffed.

She gave him a knowing look. "Doctor, you've been helping us wash dishes for two months now. You should be used to it."

"I am…I just…" the Doctor stammered and stacked the bowls. "The two of you…"

Chakotay raised an eyebrow. "Does it really bother you that badly?" he asked.

The Doctor sighed and looked from Chakotay to Janeway. "Not at all, I think it's healthy and normal."

"It's nice to know we're _normal_," Janeway muttered.

"It's just that…it bothers me that I didn't _notice. _I'm supposed to be very perceptive. I have studied crew behavior, friendships, even romantic relationships, and I never noticed _anything_."

It bothered him. A lot.

The former command crew exchanged a glance. "Doctor," Janeway said finally, stalling as if wondering how to phrase her response, "It might actually be a – a good thing that you didn't notice before."

The Doctor looked desperately at them. "But other crew members noticed. I know I'm not as popular as Tom Paris, or the morale officer, but I am your doctor. I should have seen it. I was certain that you were just – good friends."

That look again.

Chakotay put a placating hand on his shoulder. "Doctor, there _wasn't _much to notice on _Voyager_. And we are good friends. But she's also the captain."

"Yes," the Doctor agreed slowly. "You were very professional but…what _was _going on, if I may be so bold as to ask? Tom Paris certainly thought -"

"Tom Paris can think whatever he wants to," Janeway cut in, holding up a hand. "He's a wonderful pilot, and he's certainly popular, but he's also sometimes decidedly juvenile when it comes to seeing other's relationships."

"It wasn't just him. I remember – he and B'Elanna had a conversation in sickbay once about the two of you."

Chakotay chuckled and crossed his arms. "B'Elanna was gossiping about me? I'll have to spank her."

Janeway laughed lightly and guided the two of them over to the table. "All right, what did they say?"

"And you'll tell me what was going on?"

The pair looked at each other. "We'll see," Janeway said finally.

"Very well." The Doctor sighed. "B'Elanna was running a diagnostic on the holoemitters in sickbay. Paris was supposed to be organizing a new set of medical supplies, but of course he was standing right behind B'Elanna, breathing down her neck. She told him to cut it out in case you came in, Kathryn."

"Oh?" she asked, watching him carefully.

"Mr. Paris said that…well, he said that you wouldn't have any room to comment, seeing as Commander Chakotay was usually hovering over you the same way."

Janeway gave Chakotay an annoyed I-told-you-so glare and swatted his shoulder.

"Anyway, Mr. Paris said that he didn't think you actually noticed the attention…which apparently you did. B'Elanna said that you _did _notice, because you would look at him across the room during birthday parties, or stand behind his chair during staff meetings."

It was Chakotay's turn to smirk at Janeway and shove her.

"And that was all," the Doctor finished. "What _else _did I miss?" he asked, frustrated.

"That was about it," Chakotay shrugged. He glanced at Janeway. "But it is nice to know I was reading you correctly during staff meetings."

She rolled her eyes.

"But how did…how did all those normal things turn into a romantic relationship?" the Doctor asked, still disgusted with his ignorance.

They looked at each other. Finally, Chakotay frowned. "How _did _it?" he asked.

Janeway looked at him, somewhat amused. "Do you mean when did I realize I was ruined for other men, or when did I decide to do something about it?"

"I mean there was a progression from enemies to colleagues to friends to close friends. Most of that happened before there was any romantic connection, Kathryn."

The Doctor sighed, exasperated. "Is it really that complicated?"

Both of them looked him evenly in the eye and said, "yes" in unison.

The Doctor groaned and pressed a hand to his brow, wondering how he had missed something not only blatantly obvious to the rest of the crew, but branded as complicated by both Janeway and Chakotay. "Well, do tell," he urged.

Janeway studied the wall for a moment, thinking. "You're right," she said. "I haven't really thought about the moments when our relationship changed those first two years out here. I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking about you as a…well, as a person, I suppose." She looked at Chakotay, surprised at her own admission.

He gave her a rueful smile. "I noticed. I was Maquis, and your first officer, but we didn't really work together very much, did we?"

She shook her head. "No. I was so worried about surviving and about integrating your crew into my crew that I didn't think very much about integrating _you_ into my command team. Most of the time you were so passive and -"

"Well-behaved?" He raised an eyebrow.

She looked uncomfortable. "Yes. You were willing to fight for your crew's recognition, but you didn't fight much for your own."

"No," he allowed, a sad smile on his face. "I let you and Tuvok run the ship and concentrated on setting a clean-cut and somewhat penitent example for the Maquis."

Janeway cringed and rubbed her brow. "I'm not proud of that, Chakotay. I shut you out at the exact moment I shouldn't have, and it was a mistake." She looked at him evenly. "I'm sorry. Tuvok was safe. I knew him and trusted him, probably more blindly than I should have. He represented the regimented normality that I loved about being in Starfleet, and I clung to that. But you were right," she dipped her head, "too much Starfleet protocol out here can be a bad thing. We needed to adapt, and you saw that long before I did."

The Doctor cleared his throat, feeling he had been forgotten. "I'm sorry – this seems to be a rather private conversation."

The two people glanced over at him, somewhat surprised. "Right. Sorry Doc," Chakotay said, visibly relaxing his muscles.

Janeway reached out a hand and patted the Doctor's arm. "Chakotay and I seem to be having a lot of hard conversations we've never had before. It's nice to be able to be so open with each other. I guess we got carried away."

The Doctor nodded, remembering his own personal trials from the first few years of their venture in the Delta Quadrant. He had literally not been able to see beyond the walls of sickbay, but now he sensed that the bloody noses, angry outbursts, insomnia, and homesickness he had helped crewmembers through had gone all the way up to the top of the command chain. "I see. You weren't exactly friends at first."

Chakotay steered the conversation back towards more pleasant topics. "No, but we did manage to get over that." He grinned at Janeway and prodded her arm teasingly. "So, tell me when you realized you were ruined for other men."

Willing to move on to happier memories, Janeway looked at the table for a minute, a secret smile hiding on her face. Finally, she regarded Chakotay coyly. "We were in the cargo bay, just before the Kazon dumped us on Hanon V. You and I were crouched next to each other. The ship rocked, and you looked at me and steadied me. I knew – I knew then that things were permanently different between us, and it surprised me. And I realized that part of that was because I had changed. I was beginning to think about you differently than I had before."

Chakotay smiled at her. "I'd almost forgotten about that."

"So, that was the moment that this – romance – started?" the Doctor asked.

She shook her head and smiled at the Doctor. "It's not _just _a romantic relationship, Doctor, and it certainly wasn't that then. You're forgetting, after all, that I was engaged, and I hadn't exactly given up on that yet. But if it's possible to love two people at once, that was when I started doing it. It escalated pretty quickly from that point, in my mind."

"Oh?" Chakotay egged her on.

She rolled her eyes affectionately. "It was because I trust you. I mean, I trusted Mark to support me, to love me, and to -"

"Take care of your dog?" Chakotay cut in, his eyes twinkling.

Janeway gave a long-suffering sigh and elbowed him. "Yes. But I couldn't trust him to follow me into space, to have my back in a fire fight, to protect my crew and ship, to understand advanced technologies, or to give me applicable advice in frightening situations." She smiled broadly at Chakotay. "There is something…intoxicating…about being able to completely trust the person you love."

Chakotay held her gaze for several moments before brushing his fingers across her cheek. "You're right. It is intoxicating."

"This certainly _is_ complicated," the Doctor edged in. "So…when was it for you, Chakotay?"

Chakotay pried his eyes away from Kathryn's and exhaled slowly, thinking. "I'm not certain I can give you an exact moment, I'm afraid. Maybe…maybe it was like playing _kal toh_. Those first couple of years out here was hard for lots of reasons, and my life felt like it was a mess in many ways. But slowly, the more I interacted with you and got to know you, the more pieces moved around. I couldn't understand why some things happened, or why I made certain decisions, because they didn't make sense – they were part of the chaos. And lots of times, things hurt, and both of us made bad decisions. But we kept moving pieces around together, because we _were _together. And then, like in _kal toh_, the entire chaotic structure abruptly became clear and symmetrical. It made sense. It stopped hurting the same way. I woke up on New Earth one morning and I stared at the sunshine, and realized that I was _happy_. I wasn't certain that I should be, and I didn't think I deserved it, but I was happy, and I was fairly certain it was because I was with you."

He grinned and glanced down. "When I realized that, I knew that the universe hadn't just decided we needed to coexist, we needed to bond. So I did everything I could -"

"To make sure I was taken care of," Janeway said quietly, giving him a shy, secretive smile.

He nodded. "You would come first, because that was how I was supposed to bond with you."

They shared a private smile before Chakotay asked the Doctor, "does that satisfy your curiosity?"

He wasn't certain that it did, but he did feel as though he should stop fishing for now. "I suppose."

Chakotay leaned forward. "Well, if we ever did get back to _Voyager_, you can help us deflect any suspicion now that you're in possession of the facts."

"Suspicion?"

Janeway chuckled. "The betting pool, Doctor. Don't pretend you don't participate in that."

The Doctor stiffened, affronted. "Well…from time to time…one _does _hear things in sickbay, you know."

The two of them laughed at his defense. "Doctor -"

"All right, yes, I know about the betting pool. I just didn't know that it was so…accurate."

"Oh is it?" Chakotay asked brightly.

"Yes," the Doctor grumbled grudgingly. "And yes, Tom Paris would win, but Samantha Wildman is a close second."

"Really?" Janeway glanced at Chakotay. "I had no idea she kept up with ship gossip so actively."

"It comes from being friends with Neelix," the Doctor informed them. "Neelix sees things and hears things that others don't. And while he courteously turns a blind eye to certain things, Samantha can read in between the lines. I must admit, however, that he is very restrained when it comes to gossip about the command team. Individually, he'll gossip about you, but as a pair, no. You're the only people on the ship he respects like that."

Chakotay nodded and traced shapes on the table top. "That's true. Neelix does know when to be quiet."

"It's why he's such a valuable ambassador. He has impeccable survival skills," Janeway noted.

The Doctor laughed a bit, and then wondered aloud, "Could I ask one more personal question?"

"Maybe," Chakotay said with a smile.

He straightened. "If…if we ever did get back to _Voyager_, would the two of you maintain this relationship?"

They quieted. Chakotay looked pointedly at the table, and the Doctor could sense the tension rolling off the big man's shoulders. "You'll have to ask her that one, Doc."

"But…surely it's a mutual decision?" the Doctor asked blankly, looking directly at Janeway.

"She's the captain," Chakotay muttered.

The Doctor sensed he had brought up a sore topic. "Oh…"

Janeway looked hurt. "Yes we would," she said quietly.

Chakotay's head snapped up, his face tight. "Really?"

Janeway looked disappointed as she reached up to caress his tattoo with her fingertips. "Chakotay, I wouldn't do that to you. That would be incredibly cruel of me."

Chakotay's body relaxed and he heaved a sigh of relief. He grinned manically at Janeway for several long moments before looking at the Doctor. "Thanks for asking, Doc. I didn't have the courage."

Janeway bit both of her lips, pained. "I'm sorry that was even a consideration."

Chakotay grabbed both of Janeway's hands and looked at her hard. "We really are all in now, aren't we?"

Her face melted into a soft smile, sincerity in her eyes. "Yes, we really are all in."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "For better or worse, with replicator rations or spiders…"

The two of them laughed.

=/\=

And that, folks, is my [current] interpretation of the beginnings of the J/C relationship. Should you wish to hear the entire rant, please PM me. :P Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I'll see you next chapter.


	12. Day 80

Thank you all for reading. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and didn't go too nuts or get sick or anything miserable like that. Here is the day's installment of J/C for you:

=/\=

Day 80

The Well of Souls

=/\=

The Doctor was humming absently, watching the sunrise. Due to lack of maintenance, he knew that his program was not as sensitive as it once was, but he was certain that the nights here on Arachnos were somewhat cooler than the days. Soon, the others would be awake, ready to do their daily tasks in the more forgiving indirect sunlight and occasional clouds that graced the morning sky.

As the sun crested the eastern horizon, there was a rush of wind and noise, and the gravity well opened. Alarmed, the Doctor scrambled to his feet, waiting for the next doomed ship to fall through. And yet nothing came. The gravity well remained open, blooming larger, shrinking back, and expanding again. And then from inside Noss's ship, a frantic beeping sound from some of the Starfleet equipment.

Casting the occasional glance over his shoulder at the well as he scurried into the ship, the Doctor darted into the derelict cockpit and located the beeping tricorder. The tricorder, linked directly to the distress beacon, flashed its lights at him, signaling that there was a transmission being downloaded. He snatched it up and raced back into the galley, nearly knocking over a somewhat drowsy Noss.

"_Esht raht_, Doctor! What is it?"

The Doctor extended the bleeping tricorder with wide eyes. "We're receiving a transmission, Noss."

She looked astonished. "From…from _Voyager?_"

"I think so," he affirmed tightly. "I need to find the captain…" He moved into the hallway towards her room.

"She is not in there," Noss called to him from behind.

He unceremoniously thumbed open the door to the captain's room, only to find it empty. And not only empty of the captain, he realized, but of all her belongings. The random pieces of clothing from other downed ships, the few grooming supplies, her makeshift messenger bag, the boxing gloves, and her spear were conspicuously gone.

In the captain's absence, the Doctor's program automatically defaulted to the commander, and he had turned and taken three steps down the passageway before bringing himself up short, bleeping tricorder still in hand. Noss appeared beside him. "I said she is not in there," she said quietly.

The Doctor looked at Noss, his logic pathways connecting the dots. The captain wasn't in her quarters, she was in… "Oh."

Noss gave him a pitying smile and glanced at Chakotay's door. "You should knock, silly _tikbeet_."

He nodded heavily. "I will most certainly knock first."

Steeling himself, the Doctor took four more steps and knocked solemnly at Chakotay's door. "Commander?" he called uncertainly.

His auditory sensors picked up the sounds of two humanoids grumbling and shifting around. Finally, Chakotay's voice came back, thick with sleep. "What is it, Doctor?"

"Uh…it's, well…you and the captain will want to see this," he managed.

There was a beat, and then Janeway's voice sounded. "Come in."

The Doctor took a moment to brace himself, and then opened the door. In the dim room, he saw Chakotay lying on one side of his bed, hands over his eyes. Janeway was sitting up beside him, elbows resting on her knees. The Doctor was extremely glad to see that both of them had their gray tank tops on.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor began.

"Skip it," Janeway said, shaking her head. "What is it?"

The Doctor held out the tricorder. "We've received a transmission, captain," he said softly. "I think it's from _Voyager."_

The captain's face gathered and clouded for a moment. Beside her, Chakotay sat up, frowning. Wordlessly, Janeway held her hand out for the tricorder.

Sitting side by side in bed, Janeway and Chakotay examined the data being downloaded into the device.

"It's a comm from _Voyager _all right," Chakotay confirmed.

"It's on an incredibly slow carrier wave," Janeway muttered, pressing controls.

"We could route it through the comm system," Chakotay offered, concentrating.

"Yes, lets do that." Janeway looked up to find Noss hovering in the doorway. She gave the other woman a smile. "Can we route it through your ship's comm system?"

Noss smiled back. "Yes. I will prepare to do it now." She turned on her heel and left.

"Well?" the Doctor asked with a shake of his shoulders, "what do we do?"

Chakotay raised an eyebrow. "What _you _do, Doctor, is leave so we can get dressed."

"Oh! Yes, of course. Sorry…" And he stumbled backwards to the door, watching Janeway and Chakotay's sleepy yet bemused faces.

Once in the corridor, the Doctor jogged back to the ship's hatch, looking out to see the gravity well still fluctuating. He turned to look back into the ship, which suddenly seemed to echo with quiet even though three people lived there. He was flustered, he admitted to himself. Even though he had come to terms with Kathryn and Chakotay's relationship, and was even pleased for them, he felt shaken. He was programed to work in a command chain, and he was abruptly realizing that the command chain had been completely demolished. If this transmission brought nothing of use, and they were still stranded here, he was entirely on his own. He had nobody to report to, nobody to defer to when needed. And he was not in possession of the technology he would need to reprogram himself from command subroutines to social interactions.

Even though they had dropped their ranks weeks ago, the Doctor still essentially thought of Kathryn and Chakotay as a command unit. He had held onto that, because while there was command structure on Arachnos, there was –for him, anyway – hope that they would return to _Voyager_. Without that structure, he would have to accept the loss of his friends on the ship. There was no other word for it: he _missed _people. He missed Neelix. He missed Naomi and Sam. He missed Paris and Torres and Kim. He even missed Tuvok. And Seven. Especially Seven.

Seven of Nine could understand him in ways that the other crew members couldn't. She understood what it meant to malfunction. She was not offended by his occasional brusque behavior. She had similar interests and abilities. She was efficient and reliable and, endearingly, needed him. Not that she wouldn't thrive on her own, but the fact that she distinguished him as her mentor and friend meant the world to him. And he was never going to have that again.

As his thoughts circled to increasingly dark places, Janeway and Chakotay emerged into the living area. Janeway was holding the tricorder, and jerked her head to indicate she follow them to the cockpit. He fell into step behind them with relief.

"Thanks for knocking," Chakotay said with a wink.

Immediately, the Doctor felt wrong-footed. "I believe I told you - I'm a Doctor, not a voyeur," he grumbled.

Chakotay grabbed his shoulder teasingly. "It's all right, Doc. I didn't think you were."

Janeway hooked the tricorder up to Noss's ship, and Noss worked the controls until static buzzed into the cabin, and a deep, undecipherable voice was heard.

"It's on a slow carrier," Janeway remembered. "Noss, can you speed it up?"

"Yes. Try now."

The disembodied voice worked upwards in pitch until it became distinguishable as Tuvok's smooth baritone. Janeway looked at Chakotay with hopeful eyes.

"_Voyager to away team. We are attempting a rescue operation. The gravity well you are inside has a temporal variance of .4744 seconds per minute. Please use this formula to prepare for emergency beam-out in thirty minutes. You will need to be within a two-meter radius of the distress beacon for a successful beam-out. Repeat. Voyager to away team -"_

Chakotay reached down and silenced the comm. "Thirty minutes?"

Janeway was shaking her head as she worked the formula through the tricorder. "With that kind of differential, for us it means two days, eleven hours, and forty-seven minutes."

There was a ringing silence after these words.

"Well," the Doctor dead-panned, "we've waited this long…"

At that moment, the ship shook violently. Noss leapt to her feet, snatching her field scopes from the console and looking out the viewport. "Kathryn – look!"

Janeway took the scopes and looked out into the desert as the ship shook again. Her mouth drew into a grim line. "The aliens. They're throwing photon grenades at us."

Chakotay let out a long breath. "We'll need to keep the shield generator working."

"Under this kind of fire?" Janeway glanced over at him.

"We'll make it," he said bracingly. "We will."

=/\=

TBC


	13. Day 82

I apologize for keeping you hanging - I flew home to visit my family and things got a bit hectic. Here we go! Standard disclaimers apply.

=/\=

Day 82

Keep You Around for Nothing

=/\=

The Doctor stumbled against the side of the ship as another grenade pelted them. The shield generator had held up well for nearly 45 hours, but they were trapped. Rations were running low, and the Doctor knew they were all feeling weak and tired. They stood around the distress beacon they had moved indoors, antsy.

"Another hour," Chakotay alerted them, phaser rifle in one hand. The Doctor noted that Janeway had been glancing distractedly at the growing scruff on Chakotay's jaw.

"The generator will not last that long," Noss said frantically. She stood up and reached for her weapon. "I will go and repair it."

Janeway took the other woman's arm. "Not yet, Noss. We'll wait another forty minutes."

"That's cutting it close," Chakotay warned, glancing significantly at Janeway.

"I know. But we're not splitting up until we have to," she bit back.

The Doctor shook his head. They sat for another forty minutes before the generator went critical. "We're not going to last another ten minutes, captain," he said desperately. "We have to repair the generator now and get back before our beam-out window closes."

"I will go," Noss volunteered.

The Doctor grabbed her by the elbows. "No. Not by yourself."

Janeway's voice cut in. "Doctor, _Voyager _needs you back. You're not going anywhere. I am."

Chakotay stepped right into Janeway's personal space. "The hell you're going anywhere without me."

There was silence in the cabin as the Doctor did some quick calculations. The shield emitter was at least three hundred meters from their position. Getting there, repairing it, and returning within ten minutes - nine now – held a slim chance of being rescued. The Doctor looked, stricken, back at Kathryn and Chakotay, who were having an entire conversation with their eyes.

"I trust you with our family, Chakotay. I don't trust myself without you," Janeway forced out. She took a step back towards the door, even as the shelter shook.

Chakotay arrested her with a hand on her wrist. "And I trust Tuvok with them. They need the Doctor, but they can get along without us. If you're trapped here, then I am too." His voice was tight, as if he was expecting an argument.

Janeway glanced towards the Doctor and Noss, and then nodded. "Chakotay and I are staying together. We'll get the shield back up. Make sure you get back to _Voyager_ in one piece, Doctor."

He wanted to protest. He wanted to argue. But as Janeway and Chakotay linked hands and ran out of the shelter together, he held his tongue. The two of them had waited a long time to be together – even if being together meant being stranded alone on a planet again, they would survive, and they would be happy. "Godspeed," he whispered towards their retreating backs. Noss grasped his hand hard.

=/\=

_ We hit the slope together, bowing our knees low to maintain our balance and keep moving down towards the exposed shield generator. We were both fairly certain that it was the last we were going to see of the Doctor and Noss. But we would be together, and we both knew that was what we wanted more than anything._

_ "Cover me, I'll repair the generator," Kathryn shouted to me, handing off her phaser rifle. _

_ Both of us could repair it, but she would be quicker. "Take your time," I quipped, bringing my own phaser up to my shoulder and scanning the perimeter for hostiles. The aliens came in a steady stream from three sides. As quickly as I picked off one, the others had advanced on our position._

_ Kathryn glanced up. "Come on, _commander_, I don't keep you around for nothing," she shouted._

_ "I thought you could put one of those things together in under thirty seconds, _captain_," I returned, whirling to drop two aliens who were getting perilously close to her._

_ "I can. It helps when they're not full of sand."_

_ I circled closer to her as the aliens closed in. "I think we've got about three minutes before that gap closes, Kathryn."_

_ "Tell me something I don't know," she growled, smacking her palm against the machinery in rage._

_ "I love you."_

_ She laughed and twisted on her knees, working switches. "I know that. I hope you're ready to die for me, because there's an alien about ten meters behind you," she warned._

_ I turned and dropped a hopeful-looking fellow with a metal rod. "I'll die for you, but I'd rather we both lived," I said. _

_ "Got it!" she shouted triumphantly. "Janeway to Voyager, beam up the Doctor and the female lifesign beside him – that's your priority." There was no reply, but there couldn't be one. She climbed to her feet._

"_I think we have about ninety seconds, Kathryn."_

_ "An eternity," Janeway muttered, turning to me._

_ As I turned back to her in my continual circuits, my heart twisted cold as an alien struck her in the shoulders with a beam, and she went down, rolling downslope towards a drop-off._

_ "Kathryn!" Her name tore out of my throat without my command, and the alien who had struck her found himself with the butt of a phaser in his temple, then a gaping chest wound._

_ I ran after her, aliens tailing me, and she spun almost uncontrollably towards the edge of the cliff. She rolled over, and I called again, and was rewarded by her voice shouting up at me. _

_ "I'm okay!"_

_ I dropped to my stomach and reached over to take her arm. She was clinging with both hands to a small rock outcropping, her boots struggling to find purchase on the slick rock. "Grab my wrist," I told her, praying that our sweaty hands could hold on long enough to get her back up on the ledge._

_ She grabbed up at my extended hand, but her eyes focused on something above me. "Chakotay!"_

_ I turned my head in time for an alien to land a kick on my cheek, and I was forced away from the edge. Not for nothing though, had I been training Kathryn at boxing, and I was on my feet and fighting my way through the remaining three aliens. I consciously kicked our phaser rifles over the ledge, hoping that removing the temptation to shoot Kathryn for fun would up her odds of survival._

_ One man down. A heavy blow to my stomach, and another over my head, and I am on my knees seeing stars. Instinctively, I lunged forward and grabbed the legs of my assailant and shoved hard. He went down, tumbling over the cliff's edge. I heard him and Kathryn scream._

_ I shook my head and turned on the last alien. "Kathryn?!"_

_ "I'm still here. But if you could hurry up, Maquis Mauler, I'd really appreciate it."_

_ "Aye, Captain," I answered, going for broke on the last alien. My pulse was pounding with excursion, worry, and the faint hope that Voyager might still be waiting for us. _

_ He went down, and I was pretty sure that he wasn't out, but I rolled to the ledge anyway and reached down for Kathryn. Her hand found my wrist, and I locked my fingers around her slim forearm and rolled up. Her other hand on the ledge, still rolling, and then abruptly she was lying next to me, gasping for air. _

_ "Are you all right?" I managed._

_ "Yes, but we won't be if he -"_

_ That was all the further she got before the last alien, angry and vengeful, leaped at us. The three of us tangled together and went sliding precariously down towards the cliff. And then I felt Kathryn kick hard, and our attacker went over the edge with a shriek to join his comrades. I grabbed Kathryn's arms and hauled her to her feet, moving up-slope._

_ "Maybe if we hurry?"_

_ "I don't think they're still there, Chakotay," she panted behind me. Her hand slipped into mine as we ran, and I felt it slick with blood._

_ "We can try, though," I returned, pulling her along. "If there is a chance in hell that I don't have to eat another spider -"_

_ "That sounds like good enough motivation for me," she answered, and I felt her accelerate to keep pace with me. _

_ We clambered over the crest of the hill and rushed towards the ship. I didn't let go of her hand as I hit my combadge. "Chakotay to Voyager. Please tell me you're still there. We're approaching the transport site."_

_ "Come on, Tuvok, don't go anywhere," Kathryn gasped, running faster. For such a small woman, she was quick on her feet._

_ "Think we can make it?" I asked as we sprinted towards the shelter. We were only fifty meters away._

_ She grabbed my hand tighter. "Tonight I am having a bath, and then you and I are going to have the most amazing dinner and wine that we've ever splurged on, Chakotay."_

_ I grinned at her. Hands clasped together, we slammed through the ship's open hatch and hit the ground next to the distress beacon, simultaneously hitting our combadges. There was a shimmer of light, and then my lungs took their first breath of cool, filtered air in months. Kathryn's hand was still in mine._

=/\=

The Doctor let out an audible sigh of relief when Janeway and Chakotay materialized on the transporter pad. They were filthy. Janeway's hands and wrists were covered in blood and her trouser leg was ripped below the knee. Chakotay's cheek was turning a blue-brown color, and there were bleeding cuts on his brow and lip. The Doctor could only imagine what had happened in the last ten minutes.

Beside him, Noss whooped with joy and rushed forward to hug Janeway. Janeway met Noss halfway with a disbelieving laugh and grin.

Noss let go, coming back to embrace the Doctor. As they did, the Doctor watched Janeway turn back to Chakotay, who had a slow smile spreading across his face. She reached out her bloody hand to him and he accepted it. They stepped off the transporter pad together.

"We thought you might not make it," the Doctor said once Noss had released him.

Janeway grinned. "We might not have if Chakotay hadn't mentioned that we would end up eating spiders for the rest of our lives."

"And Kathryn pointed out that we could have a decent meal and some wine if we ran a bit faster."

The Doctor smiled ruefully, glancing down at their joined hands. "I hate to spoil it, but given that you've only been eating spiders for the past two and a half months, other food will likely make you ill. I'm afraid you'll have to settle for toast and herbal tea for a few days."

Chakotay groaned. Janeway grasped the Doctor's shoulder. "Please tell me that I can take a bath, though. Please don't tell me I can't."

"Kathryn," the Doctor said quietly, squeezing her shoulder, "I would encourage it."

The four of them burst into laughter, dissolving into one large hug before making the walk to sickbay.

=/\=

A/N: SAFE! Stick around for an epilogue, folks. Please R/R.


	14. Day 115

This is the final chapter/epilogue. Thank you all for coming along on the away mission, and I hope you had fun.

=/\=

Day 115

Keeping up Holo-Appearances

=/\=

A month later, the Doctor entered the mess hall and saw the command team sitting across a table from each other, smiling and laughing. The changes had been subtle. Neither of them had made any public display of affection towards the other, and for all intents and purposes their relationship seemed exactly the same, if a bit more casual. But he knew they were still together. Behind the few closed doors that Voyager offered, things were different than they had been before Arachnos. But, he mused; things had been different for several years, according to them.

And while the crew's speculation was rampant, and Tom Paris' prying was steady and accurate, the Doctor maintained his silence about Janeway and Chakotay. The crew could imagine whatever they wanted. All that was important was that they understood that the two of them were a loyal, dedicated, and unified command team.

As he neared, Janeway glanced up and winked at him. He inclined his head and slipped a padd onto the table next to her. "It's my proposal for my next holophoto show. And guess who the main stars are?" He preened just a bit, rocking on his heels.

Janeway rolled her eyes and picked up the padd. She began skimming the contents with a somewhat grim expression.

"I reserve the right to remove any pictures of myself that I don't like," Chakotay said, tapping the table.

"If that was the case you wouldn't be in any of them," Janeway answered him without looking. "But Doctor, you _have _to get rid of that one."

He looked down. "The sparring match? But captain, that was one of the most entertaining events I've ever attended."

Chakotay snorted into his coffee.

"Doctor, if you think showing the crew a picture of me getting beat up by first officer is a good idea…"

"Think of it as…a glimpse into the real Kathryn Janeway. You know, the one who has fun sometimes."

She raised a brow. "Not that one."

His shoulders drooped. "Fine. Not _that _one. Any other objections?"

She handed the padd over to Chakotay, who looked through the files with a tight face. "Get rid of this one too."

Janeway swiped the padd back and looked. "No, that's a funny picture of you. Keep that one, Doctor."

"I was _sunburned_," Chakotay hissed.

Janeway leaned forward and grinned. "So was I. The. Whole. Time. I just finally got back to my natural skin color. If I get to be lobster red in all of the pictures, then you get to be sunburned once."

He groaned and shook his head. "Kathryn…"

"I think it should stay."

"Then so should the other one."

The Doctor sighed and pulled the padd away from Janeway. "I'll come back when the two of you can be civil," he said.

He left the two of them, leaning across the table, playfully snipping about holophotos. He would leave them both in, that way when one of them condemned him, the other would rescue. He had no worries about them fighting about it afterwards – if the way they were smiling at each other after senior staff meeting was any indication, which it was.

The crew had been pestering him for weeks to have a holophoto show – something that had never happened before. He was all too happy to oblige, now that life had settled back into a normal swing. He had given Noss a copy of all of the photos a week ago when they had returned her to her homeworld. She knew the story behind all of the images, and didn't need to be kept in the dark about Janeway and Chakotay's relationship. The crew was another story. They suffered from terminal curiosity when it came to wondering about the command team's relationship status. He was surprised when the captain and commander encouraged the holophoto show then, albeit for different reasons.

_"We might be 'all in', Doctor, but it's important that the crew continue to think of us as a team, and as friends. Showing them pictures of our time on Arachnos should do that," Chakotay had told him in the ready room a few days earlier._

_ "Well…it all depends on _which _pictures I show, commander. I seem to recall having a couple that might push the crew's interpretation of friends."_

_ "I thought I told you to give all of those to me," Janeway said, alarmed._

_ "I did," he had reminded her, rolling his eyes. "But I know where the backups are."_

_ "Doctor -"_

_ "Don't worry, captain. Only boring and strictly friendly pictures."_

As the Doctor made his way to the turbolift, humming slightly, Seven of Nine fell into step beside him.

"Doctor."

"Seven," he greeted brightly.

"Where are you going?" she asked, tipping her head slightly.

"To the holodeck. I've just received the go-ahead for this week's holophoto show."

"Are these images those from the planet inside the gravity well?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "They do indeed. And the planet," he leaned close to her, "was named Arachnos."

Seven lifted a brow. "Arachnos? Then this will be a very entertaining show, Doctor. Many of the crew has indicated they are looking forward to it. I must admit, I am curious myself to see how you passed your time on the planet."

"I'm gratified to hear that, Seven. If you're free, I'd love a hand getting the images ready."

Seven inclined her head once, a slight smile on her face. "I would be pleased to accompany you."

They walked in silence for a moment. Seven looked at him. "Doctor, you experienced over two months of time while you were on that planet. And yet for _Voyager _it was only two days. Did you find that it was difficult to believe that you would eventually be rescued?"

The Doctor looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes. I had…given up on ever seeing _Voyager _again, and you're correct, it was distressing. Particularly thinking that I might not ever see you again," he said carefully.

"That is quite normal. We are colleagues and friends. Were I in your position, I would have no doubt experienced the same emotions." Seven granted him a rare smile.

The Doctor smiled back broadly to her, and gestured towards the turbolift. "Ladies first."

Seven nodded, and she preceded him into the lift.

=/\=

That's all, folks! Thank you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it. I will now pretend to return to my regularly scheduled thesis writing.


End file.
